The chiscm-chisho movement is an emerging alternative local agro-food distribution in Japan. While the measurement of chisan-chisho ratio is difficult, measuring the rate of increase in food self-sufficiency for a local government can be seen as a measurement of the chisan-chiso food self-sufficiency. The number of schools that use local farm products in school lunches has increased, with justification including such factors as safety, freshness and quality, and advantages in the single cooking methods of school lunches. Still, high costs have hampered the adoption of chisan-chiso by many schools. To further develop chisan-chisho in school lunches, it is necessary to train coordinators who connect producers and school lunch staffs. The limitations of chisan-chisho include such factors as difficulty in regulation of demand, difficulty in assortment, difficulty in providing year-round products, and price instability. The paper concludes that in order to protect local food and agriculture, conversion to a localized system is necessary.

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The main objective of this paper is to analyze the development factors of farmer's markets in relation to local revitalization. On the basis of analysis of producer/consumer questionnaire surveys, the following results were identified: (1) Farmer's markets have 11 functions, including a local development function. (2) This local development function can be characterized as a 'hospitality function.' (3) This hospitality function consists of a health improvement function on the producer side and an entertainment function on the consumer side. (4) The following five points are important in ensuring the hospitality function of a farmer's market: a supply of fresh farm products; trust in the farm products; safety assurance in the production of farm products! sales which include producer participation! and price control of farm products. (5) Due to the focus of recent agricultural policy in large-scale farmer promotion, small-scale producers marketing through farmer's markets faces difficulties. An agricultural policy that values small-scale farmers is necessary to contribute to local revitalization through the hospitality function of the farmer's market.

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This paper investigates the role of the farmers' markets in the development of a 'locally produced-locally consumed' movement and evaluates the impacts of the farmer's market on the development of the rural economy and society. The farmers' market provides the opportunity for transacting local products between farmers and local residents and improves communication concerning dietary and agricultural issues among participants at the market. Continuous development of the farmer's market contributes to the endogenous development of a rural economy and society by establishing a new marketing channel for local products. The farmers' market also provides an opportunity for women and aged farmers to engage in local economic activity. Flexible management systems of farmers' markets enable a rich assortment of local products and leads to the reevaluation of untouched natural resources. Spontaneous management of the market organization by member farmers boosts the activity level of rural communities. These positive factors aside, two types of impacts of the farmers' markets must be considered! micro-level impact and macro-level, noting that impacts on environmental problems and agricultural land use have not been confirmed. Finally, the author stresses the necessity of unifying two different arguments concerning the 'locally produced-locally consumed' movement: marketing-oriented arguments and community-oriented arguments.

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This paper analyzes the changes in Chinese agriculture over recent years, noting trends exhibited by vegetable export companies. Overproduction beginning in the latter half of 1990's has been the biggest problem faced by Chinese agriculture, with vigorous promotion of vegetable exports the result. In addition, China's entry into the WTO has increased the level of Chinese agricultural trading. Vegetable exports from China to Japan have expanded consistently since the 1990's. However, the pesticide residue problem of 2002 has caused a subsequent reduction. In response, the Chinese government enacted new laws focusing on the methods and inspection of large-scale farm and export company practices. While vegetable cultivation management is now strict, the law has also resulted in an increase in large-scale vegetable farms in China. A result of large-scale farms and the requirement of employment increases in expert staff has led to a cost increase in vegetable production in China, with the resulting price hikes on Chinese vegetable exports to be a problem in the future.

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The purpose of this paper is to clarify deficiencies in existing research on the frozen vegetable export enterprise market in China. This paper presents an analysis from the viewpoint of the theory of industrial organization, clarifying the following points. First, because previous research has concentrated on a specific field in early research, a view of the entire structure of the industry is lost. Due to this, neither policy proposals nor the policy assessments have been have been undertaken as of yet. Second, there has been little research undertaken regarding industry channel leaders. The research concludes that the researcher and the research consortium should increase information exchange and discussion in a manner toward addressing these research deficiencies in the future.

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This paper focuses on the advance of Japanese food companies into China, which has then played an important role in the export of processed food from China. The research is based on a questionnaire distributed to Japanese-food enterprises investigating the nature of such enterprises. The findings are as follows: (1) The advance of Japanese-food enterprises has been in proportion to having led over many areas with many food items coming to be imported. (2) It was recognized that the Japanese-food enterprises which have entered the China market aimed for low cost production based on capitalization and the scale and number of employees. (3) The export of Chinese processed-food product to Japan was undertaken from the latter half of 1990's. If results of this investigation are arranged, an advance area, an advance time, and an advance form, as well as the character of the enterprise for investigation are identified.

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This paper clarifies the significance of bench mark surveys on quality control systems for frozen vegetable processing enterprises in the Qingdao region, an advanced vegetable producing area of China. The research outlines bench mark surveys since 2000, preceding the residual pesticide problem; clarifies construction of a multi-stratum plantation system by processing enterprises; analyzes costs associated with such new quality control systems; and analyzes frozen vegetable importers of Japan.

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The Japanese short horn cow has long been a minor product in the Japanese beef market. However, recently it is attracting attention due to characteristics of safety and multiple functions. This phenomenon is directly related to a change of perception on beef quality after the BSE issue. This paper analyzes the role and problems of the short horn cow tie-up of direct sales in the livestock and meat distribution system, noting a transformation process from the use-value of short horn cows to a quality assessment, which is to say, a social reevaluation of the use-value of short horn cow production. The examination and analysis focuses on: (1) the relationship between the use-value and the quality of the short horn cow; (2) the present conditions and product characteristics of the short horn cow; (3) the structure of short horn cow tie-up direct sales and factors affecting the success of the tie-up direct sales; and (4) the beef quality evaluation standard reflecting the change of perception on use-value & quality.

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Cost increases in frozen vegetable processing ventures have arisen due to new quality control systems established in response to the pesticide residue problem in China. This paper focuses on the main factors of these increased costs and the measures to absorb these by business ventures. First, the research notes that while quality control systems have been implemented by vegetable producing ventures in the Laiyang region of China, some ventures still collect vegetables through village committee systems in a manner similar to that preceding the pesticide residue problem. Second, the research identifies the increased costs arising with the quality control systems as centered on personnel expenses, inspection costs, and plantation management. In order to absorb these increased costs, ventures have cut the self-control plantation by changing them to contract plantations, enlarged their exporting scale and developed new foodstuffs, especially seasoning products.

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In Vietnam, the small scale of farms and problems concerning the marketing of fresh farm produce has resulted in undeveloped vegetable production, especially in provinces remote from consuming regions. Recently, however, agricultural cooperatives located in those regions are trying to introduce and expand vegetable production through contracts with food processing companies for production of ingredient vegetables. The aim of this paper is to identify the factors in the formation of such areas through a case study of a cooperative in Nam Cuong (Nam Dinh province, Vietnam). The study shows that farmers of the Nam Cuong co-op, after commencing contract production of vegetables, were able to improve the stability of farm management and increase incomes, while also improving the land-use efficiency of each farm. The research identifies the following factors for success', proximity of Nam Cuong co-op to the processing company; a level of experience in producing commercial crops like peanuts and potatoes; Nam Cuong co-op taking the lead in development of infrastructure in the production area; and strong cooperation between government, agricultural co-ops, and food processing

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[in Japanese]

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Rice distribution in China has taken on new characteristics since 1998. This paper reports on an investigation regarding the present conditions of rice sales in the Yanbian Korean Autonomous Prefecture in Jilin Province, a traditional rice production area in northeast China, undertaken in September 2004. The investigation focuses on the farmers and retail markets surrounding Yanji City, surveying eight farm households from three villages. The investigation identifies three types of rice sales by farmers! sales by small production farmers without a detailed sales plan; sales by middle production scale farmers on the basis of a plan; and sales by organizations in cooperation with farmers who own rice processing factories.

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This paper clarifies the industrial structure of the wine industry in France through a case study of Alsace district, in which small-scale family-operated businesses account for a large proportion of production. In the grape farming sector, while small-scale part-time farm households dominate numerically, middle-scale family farms account for the majority of production. In wine brewing, in a somewhat different combination, while' small-scale family-run businesses likewise constitute a majority, a small number of large brewers, such as enterprise brewers and large cooperatives, account for the largest production share. This means that the majority of grapes produced in the area circulate from small and medium-sized farm to large-scale brewers.

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While export of frozen vegetables from China to Japan had increased from the latter half of 1990's, the pesticide residue problem of 2002 reduced this amount. Although Chinese enterprises improved their production systems, the risk associated with Chinese produce could not be completely eliminated by these actions. This paper shows the case of a Taiwanese company which adopted a successful risk management strategy by maintaining production footholds of frozen green soybeans in China and Taiwan. The company adopted production systems matching the situation in each area and was able to maintain two production footholds by expanding planted acreage, reducing labor costs through mechanization and identifying a different customer base for each production foothold.

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Since the 1990's, the importation of konnnyaku product from China to Japan has been increasing remarkably. For the same period, the comsuption of konnyaku product has been reducing. So, konnyaku manufacturres in Japan gets into managemental trouble, just now. One of the konnyaku manufacturres in Japan starts on the strategy of product differentiation by 'namaimo-hou', the special process for mashing Konnnyaku potate and manufacturing Konnyaku product. While the comsuption of special Konnyaku product -made in 'namaimo-hou- was very low in the past, it has been increasing slowly in the last 10 years. But, actual supply quantity is shorter than the potential demand of its product, owing to imperfection of supplier system. The advanced manugfacturres changes material procurement behavior, and the process for manufacturing product. They can diffferntiate their product from imported one, and one made by other manufacturres in Japan. And, they can sell their product at the profitable price.

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This article clarifies the impact of positive and negative economic shocks, social capital, and livestock production for own consumption on household food security for the poor in South Africa. Results based on quantile regression clearly suggest that economic shocks affect food security for the poor.

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