[in Japanese]

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This study investigates the effects of vegetable farmers' recognition structures on the establishment of a distribution facility considering the production and distribution structures for vegetables and fruit in Tsushima Island by use of the cross analysis and probit model. The following issues were discovered as important factors influencing the farmers' attitudes regarding the establishment of a distribution facility: characteristics of administrative units, farmers' age, number of labor units in the family, total sown area of vegetables, primary source of income, and cognitive degree of the wholesale market. Of these factors, the total sown area of vegetables was shown to have a negative effect on farmers' attitude. This factor results from the characteristic of Tsushima as an island where an appropriate distribution system has not been established yet. In this study, we can identify farmers' intentions to support the establishment of a wholesale market, the expansion of existing local free markets, and the preservation of processing facilities and so on. This study gives influential evidence regarding the future establishment of agricultural infrastructure due to the stimulation local activity.

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In this paper, we develop a theoretical and practical measure of the degree of market distortion due to price discrimination for hidden export subsidies by state trading enterprises (STEs). The model is applied to existing STEs in Canada, New Zealand, and Australia. Based on FAO price data and U.S. Department of Agriculture elasticity estimates, the empirical results indicate that the exporting STEs exert some market power for subsidized exports in Australia, New Zealand, and Canada. However, the degree of market power is far from the extreme monopoly case. The degree of distortion is highest for Canadian dairy exports, but the export subsidy equivalents (ESEs) are larger in Australia and New Zealand due to significantly higher export volume in these two countries relative to Canada. The results suggest that these exporting STEs play a significant role in providing effective export subsidies. While Canada's "special" milk class system that prices milk substantially lower for export has already been judged to be an export subsidy by the WTO court, our results indicate that other exporting STEs should also be examined. However, in order to have more accurate estimates of the distortions caused by STEs, price data from the exporting STEs is required.

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That the vertical coordination of the hog industry has been developing and has extended production rapidly in new production areas such as North Carolina in recent years is well established. A question however, is whether or not such structural change has developed in a more traditional area, for example, Iowa State. If such vertical coordination as initiated by large-scale firms has developed even in such traditional areas as the corn-belt, which includes Iowa, such development can be considered "a turning point" for the hog industry in the United States. Recently the share of the large-scale operations to the total number of marketed hogs has been increasing and most of the increase has come from contract production with growers, even in Iowa. In addition, Smithfield Foods, which is one of the major packers, acquired Murphy Family Farms, the acquisition of which provides for the involvement of Smithfield Foods in the production section making vertical coordination possible. The coordination seen in Iowa state is not limited solely to Iowa, but includes neighboring states as well. In this process, Iowa state plays the roles of a "finishing" and "slaughtering" center. In this sense, vertical coordination is developing even in Iowa. Therefore it is very interesting to find a reason why the contract coordination can be expanded. The structure of the contract in Iowa does not emphasize the producer's incentive and the instruction of contractors in the finishing processis reflected clearly in the contract. But presently, crop production is generally more important as financial sources than hog production in Iowa and hog producers tend to choose contracts in order to avoid risks rather than increase the income from the hog production. Therefore, it is presumed that even those producers who do not want to do so can accept the terms of contract production.

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Over the past two decades, the livestock industry in the U.S. has made great forward strides, resulting in such structural changes as industrialization and geographic concentration. But these structural changes have created serious concerns over the natural environment as well as the non-competitive nature of the structure, which has led to increasingly tight regulation over the industry. The problem of excess manure that is far beyond the cropland application capacity is the main source of environmental pollution. In order to minimize the environmental impacts of excess manure, it is essential that livestock manure be converted to value-added manure products and marketed broadly through an efficient marketing system. This paper examines the several challenges to achieving environmental and agricultural economic goals simultaneously, focusing mainly on composting, feed stuff use and the generation of energy from manure.

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