TOEFL iBT Independent Writing Business or Agriculture? - revised -

Writing Topic

Imagine a university is planning to build a new research center in your country, but it has not been decided whether to create a center for business research or agricultural (farming) research. Which of the two sorts of research centers would you prefer to be built in your country?

 

☆Let’s Think

1.       How is the present situation of business in Japan? How would a business research center benefit the country? What about an agricultural research center?

2.       In which area does Japan need to research more? Why?

 

☆Ideas and Expressions

Business

1.     Japan has been one of the biggest economies in the world for a long time, but now many countries outshine ours. One problem is a bad marketing research. Market research on specific demands of each country, for instance, will help diversify our exports and stabilize export earnings.

 

2.     With enough wealth and technology to help reduce the damage of environmental destruction, developed countries are expected to shift to a sustainable economy, or environmentally friendly economy. We need to do more research on related areas such as eco-friendly technology businesses.

 

3.     The low food self-sufficiency (10-40%) is not necessarily dangerous in the global economy, where manufacturers import food from food producers as long as an emergency like war happens. Also, Japan has already been heavily industrialized and adding just another agricultural research center cannot change its economic structure. Moreover, the level of our agricultural research is very high. People from all over the world come to Japan to learn our agriculture and we send experts to countries suffering from food shortage to help develop their farming.

 

Agriculture

1.     Japanese agriculture is at a crisis point. The self-sufficiency is between 10 to 40 %. It is reported that Japan is most vulnerable in a world food crisis. It is estimated that 60 % of the population will starve to death if one happens. The age-old problems of Japanese agriculture are very little farmland (90% of the land is mountains and forests), aging, weakening functions of farming societies caused by industrialization especially after WWII, and rapidly decreasing numbers of farmers and farmhouses caused by economic policies that do not protect farmers in deflation and globalization. In addition, traditional sustainable agriculture has been destroyed by the introduction of factory style farming, or single crop farming. This trend will accelerate because restrictions on agribusiness have been lifted and Trans Pacific Partnership (TPP) will slash or abolish tariffs on agricultural imports.

 

2.     Research on our low self-sufficiency (10-40 %) is necessary. The self-sufficiency of rice, our staple food, is 100%, but most of the feed grains for meat production such as wheat and corn are imported. Therefore, research on more self-sufficient protein production is necessary. The decreasing number of farmhouses should be supported by technological development such as drones designed for pesticide application, robots for picking fruits, and the plant factory, which can produce edible plants without soil all through the year. We can not only sell their produce but also export the technology. Last but not least, the government should restart the financial protection of farmers, which was introduced by Ichio Ozawa of the Democratic Party in 2010.

 

3.     It is necessary to find local crops that have enough demands in the global market and make them export crops. Research and development on Japanese crops and potential markets for them should be put forth. At the same time, it is important to get international patents for these crops, as some hybrid products such as a strawberry (Amao) and a grape (Shinemuscat) have been taken out of our country and copied in other countries over the past ten years. Farmers spent a long time, many resources, and much passion on the development of those new species. Claiming patents for them is a right thing to do.

 

4.     Humans have not eliminated deaths from starvation in poor countries. Also, population increase, global warming, pollution, and wars can cause more food crises in the near future. Developed countries are required to make more contribution to research on food security such as irrigation, plants more resistant to climate change, and genetically modified crops. Japan can live up to this expectation by continuing to offer our high-level agricultural techniques and technologies.

 

5.     It is true that the problem of low self-sufficiency is the problem of politics and business because the government is prioritizing business and globalization over agriculture and deflation is making people give up farming. However, approaches to improve the situation by those who are directly involved in farming would be effective and innovative.

 

☆Essay for ideas and expressions

Just a few years ago, the terms green or fair trade meant nothing more than opportunities for corporate image improvement to most huge corporations and never meant calls for total restructuring of the economic system, or more precisely so they pretended to interpret them. They had succeeded in propaganda to make people believe that things were going all right. However, climate change has started biting and corruption in business has become blatant; even the people in developed countries are now having difficulty in making ends meet; and mass protests across the globe do not go unnoticed anymore. Studies for new economic systems are essential to tackle fundamental problems of our times. Therefore, I would prefer a business research center to be built if a university is planning to build a new research center in my country, Japan.

   Research on alternative economic systems is crucial. It is now clear that capitalism, or free market system, is harmful to everyone including those who have enjoyed its benefits. It has exploited the resources and people in developing countries. It has widened the gap between the rich and the poor. It has also destroyed the environment, whose deterioration now threatens life, including mankind. Ideas for more natural and humane economic activities, which ordinary people as well as conscientious intellectuals have conceived probably since the onset of industrialization, should be crystallized. One of the examples of such effort is a system called employee ownership, or democratization of corporations. Democratized companies will reflect public consensus and make more sensible decisions. They will encourage governments to promote real fair trade: fair transactions not just between companies but between countries. They would certainly stop exporting factories. Also, they will support sustainable economy, since public awareness on the environmental issues is high. For instance, 70% of US citizens support green energy.

   In globalization, Japan is at the crossroads. Joining Trans Pacific Partnership (TPP) will make it a totally American type economy, which has just proved to be a failure in terms of the welfare of all people. Obviously, the disadvantaged, who are already suffering, will suffer more. Also, even if Japan survives, taking advantage of its position as a developed country, the problem of morality will remain, for free trade works at the expense of the weaker. Those in developed countries put pressure on those in developing countries. Moreover, it has become clear that the corruption of the domestic economic system has already passed the point of meltdown. The misconduct in relation to the Fukushima Daiichi Nuclear Power Plant symbolizes that Japan has not been so much a protective economy as it has been believed. Japanese people were made to accept nuclear power plants through the propaganda of Japanese mass media backed up by the US energy industry and US and Japanese governments. The industry neglected design upgrade of the reactor despite repeated warnings. After the disaster, the electric company and the government did not disclose crucial information, and the government did not take enough measures to protect the residents in the surrounding area and the eastern part of Japan. The irresponsible and corrupt economic and political leaders could make the last 50 years of Japanese prosperity, where most people, rich or poor, enjoyed fundamental human rights and basic happiness of life, just a transient good moment of its history.

   It might be true that competition raise production, but the current system does not have a safety net strong enough to protect those who have lost in competition and those who are disadvantaged. Governments are manipulated by lobbyists from large corporations, so that channeling money to rescue the weak becomes increasingly harder. Also, the stock market, a world-scale casino for the rich, does not have a structure to give it decency to clean up its own mess. When crises occur, public money is used to make up for the loss and the return is not sufficient when those rescued start gaining profits again. Unemployment rates did not go down much for a long time despite record profits of the companies bailed out in the last financial meltdown. This system keeps siphoning a large amount of money from the poor to the rich.

   Universities should suggest plans for rapid and less painful shift to the new economic system to build a society that protects life and the environment. For the purpose, I would like a new business research center to be built by a university.