Positive Economic News

I'm so tired of the doom and gloom, fear mongering media! Good stuff is happening! Get out there and be happy, dammit!
Positive Economic News

Panel says meat from cloned animals safe : National : DAILY YOMIURI ONLINE (The Daily Yomiuri)

Safe to eat dead, cloned animals says "a government panel." Forgive me if I give this a pass, way ahead of bee larvae or even mozuku. I think the government panel should go right ahead and indulge themselves.

The language is even a little scary, "meat from cloned cattle and pigs is as safe as that from animals born through conventional reproduction techniques." My guess is that conventional reproduction techniques don't include anything so low-tech as actual mating.
Panel says meat from cloned animals safe : National : DAILY YOMIURI ONLINE (The Daily Yomiuri)

Hokkaido city grows hemp to promote economic development › Japan Today: Japan News and Discussion

A great place to start!

Hokkaido city grows hemp to promote economic development › Japan Today: Japan News and Discussion

More shock media: Japan's Economy Shrinks...

Sorry, not helpful at all without some context. Bloomberg.com's headline on this is just a sample of the fear mongering that is out there, and it is just not helpful at all. Here is some context.

Japan's GDP for 2007 as listed by the World Bank was 4,376,705 million dollars, number 2 in the world after the US and Eurozone. If we take those figures and say the GDP has fallen 12.7% from there, since I didn't see 2008's numbers, that means that this year's GDP will be something like 3,820,863.4 million dollars. That would mean that Japan would still be number 2 in the world according to the 2007 figures, ahead of Germany with 3,297,233 mil. dollars in 2007. It means that in the biggest economic bust in decades, the country is still pumping out products and services to the tune of 3,820,863.4 million dollars.

If you want to see some of the bright points of this current decline, give a look at this,
'Liar's Poker' Author Sees Upside To Market Crash.
Bloomberg.com: Worldwide

Going green in India, and hopefully in Japan someday

Yesterday I turned in my 水稲生産計画書or something to that effect to the farming cooperative, which shows how much of what and where I plan to grow in my rice fields this year. There are several columns, the main two of which show what you will grow in the winter and one what you will grow in the summer. I had entered that I am growing wheat now, and that I intend to grow rice in the summer. The gentleman who accepted my form gently led me to another room and told me that it was physically impossible to do both. I disagreed and told him how I would plant rice under the ripening wheat, which would keep the other weeds at bay as the rice germinated, and then would flood the fields after the wheat was harvested. Though he was not convinced that such a system was practical, he let that go and suggested that I start by using herbicides. He suggested that in his experience that he has never seen such a scheme work, and that using herbicides was the only way I would see a crop of rice. He also suggested that modern Japanese herbicides were in no way harmful. I assured him that I would be successful in growing rice without chemies because others have before me, in fact the whole country did before WWII.

Then I read articles like the one attached, and I feel vindicated.

Seventynine-year-old Balwant Singh of Khanora village is one of the first farmers in Patiala district to opt for organic farming. "People try to discourage you but you have to override this negativity to start off on the road to self-discovery," he says, adding he grows organic produce on six acres.

A fine article describing the struggles of the Punjabi farmers to start growing organic.

The Tribune - Magazine section - Saturday Extra

Canada declares Food Freedom Day

Food Freedom day is the day on which the average Canadian disposable income (income after taxes) earned by this date is sufficient to pay for him or her pay their food bill for the year of 2009. That is nine days later than in 2008 for Canada, and about 11.7% of the year. According to the article, Japan spends 35.7% more. That would mean that we will reach Food Freedom Day here on June 24. That's much later in the year than I could have imagined.
canadiancattlemen.ca - Cattlemen magazine is Canada��s publication and web site for cattle farmers. - Cattlemen magazine is Canada��s publication and web site for cattle farmers. - 2/12/2009