Groovisions creates funky ag ministry video

The Tokyo-based Groovisions motion graphic design crew has created a stylishly animated educational video for the Ministry of Agriculture, Forestry and Fisheries (MAFF), which highlights some of the issues surrounding the future of food in Japan.

In the video, Groovisions use their hallmark playful-yet-ordered sim-like virtual landscape to illustrate a host of food-related challenges facing Japan. Issues include Japan’s 40% food self-sufficiency rate (the lowest of any major industrialized nation), the declining agricultural industry, and the impact of world population growth and environmental changes on the global food supply.

The video also suggests that the Western-style diet of meat, fat and oil, which has partially replaced Japan’s traditional diet of rice, fish and vegetables, has contributed to a variety of health problems and reduced demand for domestically grown produce. The food situation is exacerbated by other demographic factors such as the aging farming population and the abandonment of agricultural land. To reverse these trends, MAFF encourages consumers to make sustainable food choices and urges the industry to produce safe, properly labeled food.

The video (w/ English subtitles) was posted on the official MAFF YouTube channel, which was created last month.