Writing for Academic Discussion Agriculture or Business?

Writing Topic: Which type of research center do you think would be more beneficial for your country, agricultural research center or business research center, and why? (public policy)

 

 

☆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

Agriculture

1.     Japan needs to raise its self-sufficiency, which is said to be 40% but actually 10% according to a professor of Tokyo University, who points out our 100% dependency on China for fertilizers.

 

2.     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.

 

3.     Mechanization, or automation, should also be pursued by upgrading technology to cope with the shrinking and aging agricultural population. 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.

 

4.     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 legitimate and imperative.

 

5.     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.

 

6.     It is true that the problem of low self-sufficiency is the problem of politics and business because the government is prioritizing business over agriculture to cause declining agricultural population. However, approaches to improve the situation by those who are directly involved in farming would be effective and innovative.

 

Business

1.     Japanese economy has been stagnant for decades. Especially, over the last eight years, has slipped from the second to the fifth in the world by GDP.

 

2.     Learning from neighboring countries that have been rapidly growing in business should be prioritized.

 

3.     Market research on specific demands of each country, for instance, will help diversify our exports and stabilize export earnings.

 

4.     Plans for rapid and less painful shift to a sustainable economy are necessary. Public awareness on the environmental issues is high. For instance, 70% of US citizens support green energy. Also, 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.

 

5.     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.

 

6.     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.

 

 

☆Sample Answer for Ideas and Expressions

Sample A

【Thesis】I would like a new agricultural research center to be built by a university.

【Supporting Details】Japanese agriculture is at a crisis point. It is reported that Japan is most vulnerable in a world food crisis due to its low self-sufficiency. 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 primarily caused by the politics, 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 did 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 free trade agreements have slashed tariffs on agricultural imports.

【Counterargument-treatment】As a country depending on trade, priority on business has been high. In the globalized world, however, it is difficult for Japan to stay competitive because it has little resources, including human resources and is prone to natural disasters. Rather than dwelling on our past glory, we must face the reality and start seeking ways to at least provide enough food without depending on trades.

【Conclusion】Thus, more agricultural research would be the better choice.

 (216 words)

 

 

Sample B

【Thesis】A business research center would be more beneficial for the economy of my country,

【Supporting Details】Japan. Japan was the second biggest economy in the world for a long time, but now many countries outshine us. In the 1980’s, Japanese companies ranked in the best. People around the world bought our products such as a Toyota car and a Sony music player. We were leading in the semiconductor industry. But neither holds true now. The root cause is the government which has acted against the basic economic theory over the past 35 years; it has reserved redistribution by cutting welfare programs and public services and raising taxes in recession. Now, inequality has widened; health and social problems have increased; and ignorance has spread so much that nationalism and fascism have risen. Political reform is the urgent issue. At the same time, research center for scientific analysis of our business is needed to detect what has contributed to this rapid downturn of our economy, properties in our business culture that have made us lost in the global competition.  

【Reservation】Research on agriculture is also necessary, but I think business should be prioritized because its improvement works together with technological development, which in turn will develop agriculture.

【Conclusion】Therefore, business research is the pressing matter in the case of my country.

(198 words)

 

 

Write your response in 10 minutes. Show each other your responses. Write down questions or suggestions to each other’s response.

 

 

                                                   DRAFT