In reversal, Japan now wants rice farmers to produce more. Will it work?

For Japanese people, rice is more than just a staple food. It is considered sacred in the indigenous Shinto religion and is deeply ingrained in local tradition and culture. - Reuters

JOETSU, Japan: For more than half a century, the Japanese government has encouraged its rice farmers to grow less of the crop so that prices of the national staple grain remained relatively high and steady.

Now, under an ambitious agricultural policy announced this year, Tokyo is preparing for a reversal, envisaging a future of bountiful output that would secure the country's food security without sending prices into freefall and hurting its politically influential farmers.