JAPAN FIRM PLANS TO SELL U.S. FARMLAND TO JAPANESE
A Japanese real estate company
said it will launch a campaign to sell land in U.S. Farming
areas to rich Japanese.
    Higashi Nippon House said it would offer around 2,200 acres
of land in Illinois, California, Florida and Indiana from early
April to gauge response. It set up International Farm Corp of
America in Chicago last September to oversee the operation.
    American farmers would continue as working tenants and part
of the profits from harvests of rice, corn, soybean and oranges
would go to the Japanese investors as rental.
    Japanese Agriculture Ministry officials told Reuters sales
were limited to farmers to keep land in agricultural use.
    "Two years ago, I began to seek my own farmland in Japan,"
said Isao Nakamura, president of Higashi Nippon. "However, sale
of Japanese farmland is strictly controlled by the government,
so I began to look for the land in the U.S to make my dream to
own farm land come true."
    Nakamura said hundreds of companies exist in the U.S. To
sell farmland to investors as more and more farmers face
difficulties due to the recession in U.S. Agriculture.
 REUTER
