With the rapid development of Economy in China, the agriculture and rural issues become more and more serious. The biggest problem of China's agriculture and rural issues is the expansion of economic gap between urban and rural areas, which caused by low productivity in agricultural sector and its' underlying problem is small scale farming. In order to rectify the above mentioned big gap, the efficiency of farm management and agricultural products distribution by farmers' cooperatives has become an urgent issue. Farmers' cooperatives have three functions as the following: First is to rationalize the shipment cost and distribution expenses and to strengthen the sales force in the market by farmers' cooperation. Second is to promote the dissemination of technology by farmers' cooperatives. The third is to integrate lands by farmers' cooperatives so as to bring up large-scale management. According to statistics, the number of farmers' cooperatives has reached 246,000 by the end of 2009, which spread quickly in rural China. Farmers' cooperatives have covered a wide range from agriculture, livestock, agricultural products processing, commercial, distribution industry, to services. Recently, some also move into agricultural insurance, financial sector. The case study on farmers' cooperatives in this paper is divided into two types: One type focuses on the insurance of sales channels for famers produce by farmers' cooperatives in Chengmai city Hainan province and Laizhou city Shandong province. The other is about the dissemination of technology to farmers by farmers' cooperatives in Rushan city Shandong province.

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This paper clarifies the merchant role in the establishment of the Farmers' Professional Cooperative in China. The example outlined in this paper shows that while the merchants put their money into the establishment of the Farmers' Professional Cooperatives, the cultivation techniques and the capability for marketing as the merchant justified a profit share through the establishment of the Farmers' Professional Cooperatives. In this manner, a democratic administration is advancing little by little, with the merchant playing an important role throughout. The opportunity for such a movement to take place was the enactment of the Farmers' Professional Cooperatives Law, thereby signifying the significance of the enactment of the Farmers' Professional Cooperative.

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In contemporary China, significant changes are occuring in the agricultural products distribution system. Links between producing and consuming regions, as well as producers and consumers, are emerging through direct marketing, a system that is different from the traditional agricultural produce distribution system which mediated the agricultural products wholesale market. This paper examines the development and trend of this direct marketing. First, the research outlines the background of the development of direct marketing in four aspects: the conflict between small scale farming and big market needs; the needs for food safety; the fierce competition between supermarkets; and the expansion of farmers' cooperatives and their participation in direct marketing as proposed by the government. Second, a 'farmer-supermarket connection' project, in which farmers sell their products through farmers' cooperatives directly to supermarkets as one type of direct marketing, is taken as example to analyze the condition, effects and problems of direct marketing. It is shown that direct marketing makes agricultural products distribution more efficient by simplifying the channel while producing cost reduction for farmers and supermarkets and providing for food safety and quality along with improved incomes for farmers. While problems remain with direct marketing, due to the lack of relevant policies and operation issues, these can be addressed through instruction and support from the government, reconstruction of delivery and management systems, and improvement of farmers' cooperatives and supermarkets so as to strengthen their cooperative relationship.

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The apple is a representative produce of Japan. This study examines the features of the marketing in a main apple producing area in terms of the market position in the wholesale markets, and their correspondence to the retailer-led food marketing system in terms of relationship with retailer. In the apple producing area examined, the main sellers were the professional buyers, who had the large C.A. (Controlled Atmosphere) refrigerators and took seasonal 'orderly marketing'. But the mechanism of competition between apple producing areas was insufficient for research. On the other hand, the Japanese food marketing system has recently been transformed from a wholesaler-led to one led by retailers. In the apple market examined, there was the 'leader' producing area, which supplied more than half the apples. As a result, the sellers in the other areas supplied apples in different season from the 'leader'. However, it was difficult for them to prevent ongoing competition with the 'leader' area due to global warming and the changes in product conditions, and it was important for them to cooperate with the retailer for the sake of product differentiation. But the producing areas which advanced to this degree were not actually 'challenger', 'niche' or 'follower' areas, which needed to sell on the basis of product differentiation but, in fact, the 'leader' area. The paper concludes by stressing that the rural producer organizations and the rural professional buyers should sell by marketing approaches suitable for each position while taking the retailer into account.

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This paper examines the impacts of Korea's Rice Direct Payment Program, which was introduced in 2005 to reimburse the rice farms for the income loss incurred by the rice trade liberalization. The analysis shows that this direct payment program has been contributing to farm income stabilization to some extent. However, at the same time, it is also a case that some very important structural problems facing the agriculture of Korea for a long time still remains unsolved under this direct payment program. These include: (1) this direct payment program conflicts with the agricultural structure reform policies of Korea in many respects; (2) the concerns over the food security in Korea are growing considering the drastic decrease in the food self sufficiency rate; and (3) the sustainability of this direct payment program is questioned under the inflating budget burden and AMS limit of WTO.

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Identifying the crucial factor of the CAP reforms is an interesting and open question. There seems to be a controversy between two schools; one that regards external pressure from outside the EU (i.e. GATT UR and WTO) as the deciding factor and the other that regard internal pressure (i.e. budget pressure and EU enlargement). The former asserts that the CAP is persistently constructed upon the state-assisted paradigm as an extension of agricultural exceptionalism disposed at GATT UR and proposes bond schemes as the ultimate solution. The latter emphasizes a new principle, such as co-financing and decentralisation introduced by the second pillar establishment of Agenda 2000 reform in 1999, and expects that the manner of policy implementation will be taken over re-nationalisation in the course of time. The paper concludes that future picture of the CAP is uncertain but will fall into between these two perspectives.

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The purpose of this paper is to clarify the ideal method of risk communication in fire blight risk. Research on the SPS measures is minor in the field of agricultural production and distribution system in Japan, which is a reason for the discrepancy between the idea that values the principle of free trade that WTO system promotes and the idea that the purpose of SPS measures is not protective trade. Therefore, it is necessary to think about the agro-trade theory different from the situation to date. In a word, the operation of risk communication to reflect the intention of the agricultural sector where the threat of the risk is received directly has become an important focus. In this paper, the apple fire blight dispute (WT/DS245) is analyzed as a case study, with the ideal method of risk communication in Japan examined. As a result of this case study, the influences affecting the mechanism of risk communication to reflect the intention of the agricultural sector is clarified.

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This paper investigates the characteristics of the first stage of a governmental program for agriculture, commerce and industry collaboration, identifying issues to be solved. The author surveys the situation of 364 plans approved by the government for enhancing the collaboration between agriculture, commerce and industry. In many plans, firms are linked on single network and try developing new food products by utilizing local agricultural products. But most representative firms belong to the industrial sector, and the agricultural sector's involvement is relatively weak. Supporting activities by the research sector lack clarity compared to the project for enhancing industrial clusters. The paper concludes that the agricultural sector should try developing partnerships with other sectors on an equal basis. The diversification of farm enterprise itself also should be taken into consideration.

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This paper examines strategies devised by Japanese vegetables manufacturers in the City of Shanghai, through investigating VE,GE,TA,BE Inc. This company is one of the leading suppliers of mesclun greens for four-to-five-star hotels in Shanghai. The study shows that the company has been expanding its sales volume by formulating a marketing mix including such elements as product strategy, channel strategy, and promotion activities, based on Shanghai's unique economic character with an expanding target market and expanding consumer needs for eating safe vegetables.

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