Onion Production in Hokkaido, Northern Japan

摘要

Two-thirds of the world's onions are produced in Asia. Over the coming decade Asia will continue to increase production. This article discusses onion growing in one of the most advanced growing regions, Hokkaido, in northern Japan. Japan has the thirdlargest economy in the world and the tenth largest population. Japan is reliant on food imports, with a meagre 15 percent of the land mass being suitable for arable crops. Japan currently imports about 60 percent of its food requirements; competition to supply the Japanese people with food is fierce—not only from producers in the United States, European Union and its close neighbour China, but also from highly subsidized and protected Japanese producers.