Aiming to be the “First Call Bank” for the Food and AFF industries
The Food and Agriculture Business that aims to make agriculture, fishery, and forestry (AFF) industries a growing industry, to improve income levels, and to strengthen production base, cannot be completed by simply supporting producers.
It requires a comprehensive approach that spans the entire food and agriculture value chain, from the manufacturing of machinery and materials used in production, to processing, distribution, retail, food service, export, and consumption of agricultural, forestry, and fisheries products.
Leveraging our extensive experience with transactions across the entire value chain, we connect AFF operators nationwide with the JA, JF, and JForest Group and with over 1,700 customer companies. We coordinate projects that interlink producers, the JA, JF, JForest Group, and consumer companies and work to build up high-quality engagements that raise income levels, improve responses to sustainability issues, and resolve business challenges faced by our clients. In tandem with the development of Food and Agriculture business, we aim to expand the scale of our business' earnings by providing services that leverage the expertise of the Norinchukin Group, expanding investments and loans to include new product areas, and building a loan portfolio that is resistant to interest rate and economic fluctuations.
OZAKI Taro
Director and Senior Managing Executive Officer
(in charge of Food & Agri Banking Business)
Member of the Board of Directors
Head of Food & Agri Banking Business
What is the Food and Agriculture Business?
Our Food and Agriculture Business is a domain in which we fully leverage the Bank’s financial and non-financial services centered on the business base of the JA, JF, and JForest Groups and the corporate banking business base of the Bank in efforts to increase the income of farmers, fishermen, and foresters, make the AFF industries more sustainable, and strengthen the domestic production base.
Overview of Our Food and Agriculture Business
Approach to Achieving Medium-Term Vision
Business Environment Outlook for 2030 (Food and Agriculture Business)
- Population decline and birth rates falling are progressing, and aging is in an accelerated pace. The number of individually owned businesses serving as the backbone of primary industry is decreasing and shifting to corporate-owned businesses.
- As the smart agriculture market advances, expectation for advisory functions utilizing IT and digital technology is rising, including the replacement of manual labor with robotic tractors and drones. The use of digital technology in food and agriculture industry is accelerating.
- Geopolitical risks are raising awareness of challenges such as rising material prices for producers—a phenomenon that makes productivity and sustainability within the food and agriculture value chain indispensable.
- Rising awareness of the need for a food security foundation is driving demand for the establishment of a supporting domestic production base and circular agriculture system. The utilization of natural-based credits, including J-Credits, is gaining attention, and initiatives in the sustainable sector continue to receive high expectations.
Approach to achieving our Vision for 2030
We are contributing to the sustainable development of AFF and cooperative system by developing data-driven businesses, such as advisory services utilizing IT and digital technologies, and by building new “glocal” value chains that transcend the existing model. In consideration of food security and the interlinked subject of income improvement, we are also focusing on “maintaining the agricultural production base” and promoting “environmentally friendly and sustainable agriculture.”
Achieving our goals: key concepts
Initiatives for fiscal 2024
Contribution to improving agricultural income
The Bank has defined a metric, “Added Value Amount”, as a performance indicator of income improvement for farmers (leaders in the agricultural industry). This is defined as “improvement in added value amount (operating profit + depreciation + labor cost).” It encompasses not only profit growth but also appropriate capital investment and human resource investment. Based on this metric, we set medium-to-long-term target of improving farmers’ income level and JA Bank, including the Bank, engages in activities including consulting aimed at supporting leaders in the agricultural industry.
These consulting activities shed light on farmers’ management issues and led to solution proposal that would contribute to increasing their income.
Furthermore, to strengthen advisory functions that leverage IT and digital technology, we are considering the launch of services in areas such as accounting and production management, which are important pieces for the visualization of client farmers’ management problems.
Number of consulting activities conducted by JA Bank*
* Total for JA, JA Shinnoren, and the Bank
Contribution to added value amount for leaders in the agricultural industry*
* The scope of the calculation is the cumulative total of measurable cases (152 cases) among implemented solutions in fiscal 2024 as defined in JA Bank’s consulting activities to leaders in the agricultural industry.
What are JA Bank’s consulting activities to farmers?
These activities are led by JA's Banking Business Division or by banking institutions such as JA Shinnoren and The Norinchukin Bank. Process wise, first a financial analysis and interviews with producers in agriculture industries are conducted, and then their business viability is evaluated both quantitatively and qualitatively, and based on the evaluation, solutions are proposed to address any management issues identified.
A unique characteristic of these solutions are that it leverages JA Group's comprehensive capabilities, not only JA's Banking Business Division but in coordination with Farm Guidance Division and Marketing/Supplying Business Division, enabling to propose a wide range of solutions that go beyond finance. After solutions are proposed, JA Bank continues to support producers by following up on the progress of initiatives proposed for addressing identified issues.
Performing financial intermediary functions to build and strengthen the food and agriculture value chains
The Bank and its group company including the Agribusiness Investment & Consultation Co., Ltd. have provided a cumulative total of 115.2 billion yen of equity finance to strengthen capital of AFF operators or provide growth capital to companies that support the food and agriculture value chain and the innovation in the food & agri (as of March 31, 2025).
We provide appropriate management support and financing to AFF businesses facing difficult conditions due to high input material prices and other factors.
Carbon Credit Business
To contribute to sustainable food and AFF systems, we launched a carbon credit intermediation service specializing in domestic AFF industries in fiscal 2023. Since then, we have expanded credit intermediation activities not only to GHG reduction credit but also to nature-capital related credit throughout Japan.
Additionally, in collaboration with the JForest Group, we have launched a transaction platform for forest carbon credits. Since its launch in March 2024, multiple transactions have been concluded via this platform.
* Due to rounding, the sum of each value may not match the total. Also, the number and amount of investments for food and agriculture-related companies include transfers from The Bank's F&A Growth Industrialization Investment Framework.
Current Challenges and Direction of Responses
Current Challenges
- The number of small-scale AFF producers has been decreasing, while a limited number of large AFF companies continue business expansion and consolidation. To ensure the sustainability of agriculture, rationalization of agriculture related industries, including processing and logistics companies, and promotion of consumers’ understanding about the mechanism of food price formation would be necessary.
- To this end, cooperative institutions would need to further demonstrate its ability as one group that provides both financial and non-financial solutions, to raise productivity and add value of the AFF producers and related industries.
Direction of Responses
- We are mobilizing the collective strength as cooperative organizations to support farmers, fishermen, and foresters from a medium-to-long-term perspective, by expanding measures that support business scale expansion, productivity growth and increase added value of core players in each region.
- We support solutions to industry-specific challenges, such as infrastructure reorganization and the elimination of inefficiencies, that are necessary to maintain and build the food and agriculture value chains.
- We are expanding initiatives that contribute to increasing AFF producers’ incomes and broadening the stakeholder base through measures such as promoting DX via loans and investments to companies with innovative ideas and solutions.
