Must-see for farmers│Three grants to improve management and specific examples of their introduction

Did you know that the Ministry of Agriculture, Forestry and Fisheries (MAFF) offers various grant programs to support the strengthening and development of agriculture?

This system is not properly understood or well known because it “looks kind of difficult,” but it may be of great help to your business. We hope that you will correctly understand and make good use of these grants, so we will introduce three typical agriculture-related grants in this article.

Please check the following pages for an overview of each grant and examples of actual use of each grant to see if it is applicable to your own situation.

Table of Contents

1 Three grants that improve the management of agriculture

1-1 Multifunctional Payment Grants

1-2 Comprehensive grants to support the development of strong agriculture and bearers of agriculture

1-3 Power-up Project for Production Bases in Production Areas

2 Examples of introduction of multifunctional payment grants

2-1 Use of grant funds for concrete repair work on old agricultural canals

3 Examples of Introduction of Comprehensive Support Grants for Creating Strong Agriculture and Bearers of Agriculture

3-1 Example of using a grant to cover the cost of introducing a mycorrhizal tent for producing shiitake and maitake mushrooms

4 Examples of Introduction of Production Base Power Up Projects in Production Areas

5 Conclusion

Three grants that improve the management of agriculture

There are three main grant programs offered by the Ministry of Agriculture, Forestry and Fisheries

• Multifunctional Payment Grants
• Comprehensive grants to support the development of strong agriculture and bearers of agriculture
• Project to Increase the Power of Production Bases in Production Areas

Each of these subsidies is similar in that they are designed to support agriculture, but they differ in the detailed requirements for eligibility, eligible projects, subsidy rates, and adoption requirements. The following is a brief overview of the process, so please refer to it to see if there is anything that might apply to your own case.

Multifunctional Payment Grants

The “Multifunctional Function Payment Grant” is a subsidy system established to promote appropriate conservation and management of local resources by supporting joint community activities to maintain and demonstrate the multifunctional nature of agriculture and farming villages.

The following activities that support multifunctional functions and improve the quality of local resources such as farmland, waterways, and farm roads are eligible for grants.

• Mowing of farmland slopes
• Mud raising of waterways
• Road surface maintenance on farm roads
• Expand and strengthen systems to respond to structural changes in rural areas
• Development of concepts for conservation and management of local resources, etc.
• Activities to repair cracks and extend service life of waterways
• Activities to repair and extend the life of depressions in farm roads
• Landscape formation and biotope creation through planting
• Widening and strengthening of the organization

For more information on the “Multifunctional Payment Grants,” please refer to the following article.
>What is “Multifunctional Payment Grants”? How to receive subsidies for farmland, waterway, and farm road maintenance projects, etc.

Comprehensive grants to support the development of strong agriculture and bearers of agriculture

The “Comprehensive Support Grant for Creating Strong Agriculture and Leaders of Agriculture” partially subsidizes the cost of introducing agricultural machinery and facilities to those who meet certain conditions, with the aim of strengthening profitability and promoting the development of the management of agricultural companies. Mainly, the assistance is available for key agricultural production area facilities and agricultural machinery and facilities with a useful life of 5 years or more, and examples of such initiatives include the following

• Acquisition of tractors, rice transplanters, combines, and other agricultural machinery
• Acquisition of facilities such as tent warehouses, drying and preparation facilities (dryers), and collection and shipping facilities (fruit sorting machines)
• Maintenance of tent warehouses and plastic greenhouses
• Improvements to farmland and other lands, such as the removal of causeways and the maintenance of culverts and culvert drainage

For more information on the “Comprehensive Support Grants for Creating Strong Agriculture and Bearers of Agriculture”, please refer to the following article.
> How to introduce agricultural machinery and facilities using the “Comprehensive Support Grant for Creating Strong Agriculture and Bearers of Agriculture”.

Project to Increase the Power of Production Bases in Production Areas

The “Production Area Production Base Power Up Project” is one of the Ministry of Agriculture, Forestry and Fisheries’ programs that financially subsidize farmers who aim to improve their earnings and strengthen their production base. They support efforts to introduce high-performance machinery and facilities, change cultivation systems, and develop soil through the use of compost, based on the three main measures: measures to acquire new markets, measures to improve profitability, and measures to strengthen the production base.

For example, you can receive grants at a certain subsidy rate for the following initiatives

• Development of processing facilities for domestically produced frozen vegetables
• Cold chain development for exports
• Introduction and lease introduction of agricultural machinery, etc.
• Establish a labor adjustment system to address labor shortages, etc.
• Introduction of growth forecasting system, etc.
• Development of key facilities in the production area, such as agro-processing and processing facilities and low-cost weatherproof greenhouses
• Lease introduction and acquisition of agricultural machinery
• Introduction of production materials
• Development of drying and preparation facilities
• Development of facilities for advanced production technology (low-cost weatherproof greenhouses, etc.), etc.
• Replanting of competitive varieties of fruit trees with the same variety

For more information on the “Production Area Production Base Power Up Project,” please refer to the following article.
> How Farmers Can Improve Profitability by Utilizing MAFF’s “Power Up Production Base Project for Production Areas

Examples of introduction of multifunctional payment grants

Of the three grant programs we have introduced, we will first introduce an example of utilizing the “Multifunctional Payment Grant”. The grants are used for the preservation of agricultural roads and waterways, and in the following cases, the grants were used to repair aging agricultural waterways.

Grant to repair concrete repair work on old agricultural canals

subject	Aomori Amamabayashi Land Improvement District, Aomori Repair of aging farmland canals
name of the client	Tenma Forest Land Improvement District
Construction location	Towada City, Aomori Prefecture	contractor	(squad of) conservationists
Products Used	Concrete Canvas CC5	Quantity Used	390m2
Objective	Waterway repair work	Construction period	September, 2008

The Amamabayashi Land Improvement District in Aomori Prefecture was experiencing problems with its aging agricultural waterways, making it difficult to secure water for agricultural use. The canal, built more than 50 years ago, had deteriorated and aged significantly, and required full-scale construction with concrete pouring.

However, the site was an agricultural site with narrow roads, and they were faced with the problem of not being able to bring in the vehicles and heavy equipment needed for the concrete work.

(Aging and deteriorated agricultural waterways)

The grant was used to solve the problem with “Concrete Canvas”. Concrete Canvas” is a product offered by Taiyo Kogyo Corporation, and is a special sheet that can create a concrete surface simply by laying it down and pouring water on it. It can be easily installed by anyone without the use of heavy machinery, and is characterized by its beautiful finish.

(Agricultural canal repaired with “Concrete Canvas”)

With the use of this “concrete canvas,” the repair work was completed in a very short period of time with only farmers working on the project.

For more information or to inquire about Concrete Canvas, please visit the following links
> “Concrete Canvas” by Taiyo Kogyo Co.

Example of introduction of a comprehensive grant to support the development of strong agriculture and bearers of agriculture

Next, we will introduce a case study of actual use of the “Comprehensive Support Grant for Creating Strong Agriculture and Leaders of the Industry,” which provides financial support for efforts to introduce agricultural machinery and facilities with the aim of enhancing profitability. A business in Yamagata Prefecture that grows maitake mushrooms used a grant to create a “tent warehouse” as a mycorrhizal tent.

Example of using a grant for the cost of introducing a mycorrhizal tent to produce shiitake and maitake mushrooms

A mushroom producer in Mogami County, Yamagata Prefecture, utilized the “Comprehensive Support Grant for Creating Strong Agriculture and Leaders” to install a tent warehouse to be used as a mycorrhizal bed production and seed cultivation facility.

In this case, the “Support Type for Key Industrial Facilities” was used out of the three types of the Comprehensive Support Grant for Creating Strong Agriculture and Bearers of Agriculture. Since the subsidy is limited to equipment with a useful life of 5 years or more, conventional plastic greenhouses are not eligible, so a “tent” was introduced, which is treated as a building.

As can be seen from the photos below, tent warehouses can provide light inside to reduce lighting and electricity costs, and the nature of the material also allows them to block out a moderate amount of ultraviolet rays and sunlight.

This tent warehouse is a product called “Flex House” by Taiyo Kogyo Corporation. Flex House” is characterized by a shorter construction period than conventional warehouses and system construction warehouses, which allows for cost reductions, and is more durable than conventional tents, etc. In addition, the “titanium oxide photocatalytic coating film” using photocatalytic technology provides extremely high antifouling performance.

For more information or to inquire about Flex, please visit the following links
> “Flex House” by Taiyo Kogyo Corporation

Examples of Introduction of Production Area Production Base Power Up Project

Finally, we would like to introduce a case study of an introduction utilizing the “Production Area Production Base Power Up Project.

In order to introduce expensive machinery and equipment on a shared regional basis, an advanced rice farmer manager took the lead in gathering young farmers from the region and utilizing a grant from the “Production Area Production Infrastructure Power Up Project.

Leading the way was a rice farmer in Fukushima Prefecture who is engaged in online sales of a new variety of rice, “Amano-no-tsubu,” grown with fewer agricultural chemicals. To improve efficiency throughout the region, a tent workshop and grain dryer have been installed and are being used by several farmers to sort rice.

Initially, the company considered asking for help from a local support group, but the procedures and approvals were too time-consuming, so they decided to abandon the plan and opted to utilize the grant on their own. The installation did not go through a design firm, but was done by a local electrical installation company.

The introduction of this equipment has increased the efficiency of rice cultivation in the entire region, and furthermore, the gathering of shared farmers has increased communication, contributing to the revitalization of the region.

summary

The grant system is often avoided because of its complicated image, but we hope you have learned that it can be a very powerful tool if it is used well. We understand that it is difficult to understand the information in this article alone, but we encourage you to first contact each of the contacts listed below to clear up any questions you may have.

Please contact Taiyo Kogyo Corporation for information on products eligible for grants.
>> TAIYO KOGYO COMPANY, LIMITED│General Inquiries

For more information on the grant program, please contact the Ministry of Agriculture, Forestry and Fisheries.
> “Ministry of Agriculture, Forestry and Fisheries Inquiry Desk