The last three weeks have gone very quickly, but here is some of what I have seen.

I stayed with Nuffield Scholars in Ireland, Scotland and England and they were all very helpful in arranging meetings with growers involved in good examples of value adding. In the UK they have the big advantage of a huge market on their doorstep especially the farmers around London some who are less than 1 hour from the centre. The amazing thing is that the farmers in this area generally are not making money out of production farming, but out of non-ag enterprises such as renovating and renting out old buildings for residential, commercial and also document or warehouse storage. I also saw golf courses, airfields for aero clubs, renting out land and ponds for hunting & fishing clubs etc. Conservation is a big issue and I think some of the farmers feel like they are more like National Park keepers that farmers - but are being paid well to do this.

One huge growth area in the UK is farmers markets, where produce is sold as direct as possible from the farm to the consumer, usually with promotion of the area or even by the farmer that produce the goods. One of the places I visited was the Windsor Castle Farm Shop, was like shopping at Harrods for food, but people were flocking there and spending plenty - a pretty good brand at work. Prince Charles brand of Duchy biscuits are popular made from organic oats, but taste pretty average. Another huge growth market in the UK is ready to eat meals - fresh & frozen, with most supermarkets devoting at least a whole isle to fridges and freezers for this type of food.

Traceability is becoming popular and seen as a part of production, particularly with meat products. This has really been forced on the producer/industry by BSE. Most butchers show information on the meat being sold including at least an ID number, which can be used to look up the origin and other details. Consumers are becoming more aware of food safety and health benefits and there is definitely a growing % of population that will pay a premium for some sort of perceived health or safety benefit.

It was harvest time in England and most of the wheat crops were very good, despite the "drought" they are having (the grass in front of Buckingham Palace was almost dead, so they must be dry). Spent some time on a header with yields around 8 to 10t/ha mostly and harvesting conditions were good. I then had the weekend south of Chicago on a long way route to Japan. Caught up and stayed with friends Jeff & Lacy and their 2yo daughter Sawyer. I also caught up with Andrew Nagorcka & Kylie in O'Hare on my way out which was a bonus. The soybeans and corn in Illinois look exceptional at the moment.

Arrived in Tokyo and the humidity almost knocked me out, they say to expect it this time of the year. The sea breeze doesn't come in the afternoons so no relief in the evenings at all. Thankfully most of the buildings and cars have the a/c going, but getting around Tokyo was warm and sticky.

Found my way around reasonably well when required and was fortunate to have a local who works for the WA trade department take me around for two days and an Aussie from Meat & Livestock Australia one day. Food traceability is certainly a big issue for the Japanese; they also have mad cow and numerous other food safety issues fresh in their minds.

All of the meat and fruit and vegetables have traceability systems in place, I think it is law if they are an unprocessed product. Most consumers in Japan take a great interest in where their food comes from and are re-assured by the traceability systems. It is becoming common to have pictures of the growers on or near the products and all the additional details. The latest technology is a small square 2D bar code which is scanned in by the consumer's mobile phone, it then links them to the web site of the product and all the details can be viewed on the screen of the phone. MLA was one of the first companies to start using this technology on "Aussie Beef" labels. The system is being used on all sorts of products and advertising, I saw a 10 metre version on the side of a building with an advertisement for some sort of broadcasting company. It is appearing on business cards, magazine ads and it is possible to make your own code on mobile phones, containing all your contacts details, which can then be scanned in by another phone.

Japan is definitely the most advanced I have seen in the world for food traceability and with their quick adoption of technology will stay that way for a long time. Was interesting to see farmers type markets also in the country areas of Japan, where producers from the area delivery their produce in daily and then are sold through the cooperative local market. They typically sell out by lunch time, especially on a Saturday morning where there is great excitement to head out and buy fresh produce for the coming week. The produce sold has the farmers name on all the goods and a picture of them proudly displayed nearby or on the wall of the market.

I was fortunate to stay for three days with Mie's family who lives is the country type area of Fukuoka province. This is 5 hours express bullet train ride SE of Tokyo, well over 1000km. Her house is typical of the area - very traditional with shoes off at the front door, where you then step up to the floor level, rice paper doors between all the rooms etc. They have chairs and a table for dining but sit on the floor for relaxing, tv watching etc. Mie and her boyfriend, Kenta live in an apartment, but we all stayed at her parents for the weekend. Her grandma also lives there.

We visited three farmers on Saturday, two growing fruit and one growing vegetables and rice. The family growing rice was very interesting as they are branding their own product, and have full traceability for their product. They have their name and contact details on each label, so a great example for my study topic. He also is trying to use less chemical and as a result there is some slight blackening by insect damage to the rice, with maybe one in a few thousand dark grains visible through the pack. For the consumer to accept this is a big change of mindset for the Japanese, who pay a big premium for the perfect product. In Tokyo I saw perfect shaped rock melons for close to $100 each and then a premium for a perfect pair for well over $200.

On Saturday night we went to a local festival. It is an annual event and most of the girls dress up in traditional Japanese outfits. The main part of it was along a river and they had many food and drink stalls, plus a huge fireworks display, which went for ever, but very impressive.

Before the festival we had a bbq at the LPG gas business owned by Mie's extended family. Its office is right is town and both her mum and dad work their. They are so friendly and all the guys made me welcome using the limited English word they know to joke around. Then yesterday we visited numerous markets, supermarkets and other stores to look at different produce and traceability. Finished up with a couple of hours of Karaoke which was hilarious, but as you would expect the Japanese are seriously good at in both Japanese and English.

On my way back to Tokyo-Narita now and then onto China, Guangzhou (Canton) to start the Nuffield China tour on Friday.