China, the US and Japan are all major agricultural countries in the world, but how big is the gap in their strength?

The modern agriculture of both the US and Japan ranks among the most developed in the world, with advanced production methods and productivity levels. The success of American agriculture is mainly due to its uniquely favorable agricultural resources, but it is also inseparable from the organizational structure and operating mechanisms of agriculture and related industries that took a century to form. Japan, by contrast, is a country with little land and a large population, and its rise to become a world agricultural power owes much to its own efforts. Let's take a look at the reasons behind the success of agriculture in the US and Japan!

1. Emphasis on agricultural education

Over the past nearly one hundred years, the US has made tremendous efforts in agricultural education, research, extension and improving farmers' quality, investing large amounts of funding in agricultural education, research and extension, with a steady stream of research results; communities and individuals have also been active in agricultural education; and agricultural education and research have acquired a great deal of modern equipment and facilities. Among American farmers, 90% have at least a high school education, and half of those under 50 have a college degree or above. They can operate all kinds of agricultural machinery, engage in farm management, and are also skilled workers.

2. Promotion of agricultural machinery

As early as the 1920s, the US used machinery to transport agricultural products and used simple livestock slaughtering and fruit packaging production lines; in the 1940s it was already using large agricultural machinery; by the 1950s-1960s the level of agricultural mechanization was already very high, with many operations fully mechanized; in the 1970s, even the most difficult crops, cotton and tobacco, were mechanized; and in recent years they have been promoting the use of modern high technology.

3. Intensive management, specialized production, socialized services

Intensive management has now become the main operating model in the US. Small farms account for 64% of part-time farms, medium farms 12.6%, and although large farms account for only 1%, they contribute 27.8% of output value. The proportion of specialized farms is very high, as much as 80%, and in some cases 95%. There are all kinds of large-scale means-of-production companies, banks and credit unions that provide credit to farmers, various cooperatives organized by farmers themselves, and various associations and farmers' markets organized by farmers themselves.

4. Combining market mechanisms with government support

Although the US government does not provide the high subsidies seen in EU countries, it attaches great importance to supporting agriculture. American agriculture is strongly oriented toward internationalization. However, the agricultural internet in the US is not as developed as in China. Chinese farmers entered the smartphone era directly, and the huge population base has even given rise to "Yunzhongyang," the world's largest agricultural technology Q&A website, where questions raised by farmers can receive expert responses within two minutes, providing real help to farmers' production.

5. Strengthening agricultural infrastructure construction

The US highway system is highly developed, making it easy for agricultural machinery to reach farmland and very convenient to transport agricultural products. In addition, irrigation and drainage facilities have been built in agricultural areas, and sprinkler and drip irrigation techniques are also very widely used.

6. Intensive and meticulous farming

Japan's characteristics in the process of agricultural modernization are very obvious: ① Chemicalization first, mechanization later. Japan was the first country in the world to achieve agricultural chemicalization, which stems from its national conditions of little land and the need for intensive and meticulous farming. Japan has highly developed agricultural cooperatives - the Japan Agricultural Cooperatives (JA), whose functions are diverse and comprehensive, covering various fields such as agricultural production and the purchase, sale and distribution of agricultural products, with relevant sub-associations responsible for affairs such as the procurement of agricultural production materials, farmers' production plans, and the sale of agricultural products.