Many in Japan are raising alarm about a “logistics crisis ” in the logistics industry. Even before the pandemic, there was a shortage of experienced drivers and a commensurate rise in wages, which often leaves providers unable to complete some scheduled shipments. This “crisis” is exacerbated by the fact that delivery personnel face long work hours, difficult working conditions and low pay, making it hard to attract employees. Meanwhile, logistics efficiency remains low. Drivers often face long waits in order to load the truck, most trucks are loaded and unloaded by hand, and the tracking information to inspect and monitor deliveries often needs to be input manually. This report examines conditions in the food and agricultural products shipping industry, and the issues currently encountered when loading, unloading and inspecting shipments. We examine measures that companies have introduced or are considering to address these problems. Many of the ideas that logistics providers want to adopt will require concessions on the part of delivery recipients; in particular, to allow more lead time, to standardize the size of orders, to consolidate delivery days, and so on. However, such changes in the order and delivery conditions cannot be implemented by logistics companies without the full cooperation of both the shipper and the shipment recipient. It is essential that logistics companies work in unison with both their logistics customers and the intended recipients of deliveries, in order to find effective solutions.

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Logistics in the production areas of fresh produces has improved and achieved considerable results since the 1960s under the fresh produce production area formation policy of the 1960's. This policy was formulated in response to growing demand in parallel with the progress of agricultural cooperative co-marketing. It is a comprehensive system consisting of subsystems that perform functions such as receiving, sorting, packaging, precooling, storage, shipping, and providing information for shipping to the wholesale market. However, since 1990, changes in the external environment such as recession, competition with imported goods, expansion of the food service industry, and retail-led marketing, and changes in the internal environment such as changes in agricultural structure and policies have been expanding. The demand for private label and processing demand approved by supermarkets has become a major issue. Therefore, agricultural cooperatives and shippers in the production areas have built distribution systems that are different from the general wholesale market distribution. Under these circumstances, advanced agricultural cooperatives and shippers in the fruit and vegetable production areas package produces according to local supermarket's needs, and in the case of direct delivery, they sort produce and deliver into stores or distribution centers. In addition, these cooperatives and shippers have a basic policy to meet the needs of the individual customers of the processing and food service industries. Specifically, they flexibly respond to customer needs such as setting the shipping standards, packaging, maintaining the safety standards, and adding value through processing-cleaning, peeling, and cutting.

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In recent years, the transportation of agricultural products in depopulated areas and rural villages has been constrained due to a declining population and a shortage of drivers. In this paper, the distribution periphery was defined as “rural villages and depopulated areas where transportation services are insufficient due to population decline and depopulation. ” This report classifies agricultural product transportation in rural areas into core transportation and regional small-lot transportation. This study examines the core transportation of processed and commercial vegetables and the regional small-lot transportation of farm's market. Moreover, it clarifies the significance of continuing the transportation business in depopulated areas, which are located at the periphery of the distribution system, and the differences in the requirements for economic establishment. As a result, core transportation provides sufficient benefits and sustainability because it handles large lots. It was concluded that regional small-lot transportation is a common social good required for the continued maintenance and development of agriculture in depopulated areas and rural villages.

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This paper examines the shipment patterns of milk producers who have terminated their contracts with major dairy corporations and clarifies the logic of this restructuring. The results are as follows. First, half of the milk producers in the case areas have terminated their contracts with major dairy manufacturers since the melamine incident and shipped milk by four patterns: medium-sized dairy contracts, intra-city merchant-mediated, out-of-city merchant-mediated, and via shipping organizations. Second, some of the producers tend to change their pattern of shipment over time, rather than continuing in one pattern. Third, comparison of shipping patterns in terms of shipping, milk prices, and milk bills shows the following choice pattern by shipping destination: medium-sized dairy contract pattern first, followed by the intra-city merchant-mediated pattern and then the out-of-city merchant-mediated pattern. Shipping via producers' organization is a new pattern that has emerged in recent years. Accordingly, the restructuring logic of milk shipment patterns is to choose the milk shipments with fewest constraints for their own dairy farming.

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In the nationwide pork market, carcasses and partial meat are circulated in accordance with pig carcass and partial meat-trading standards. However, in Okinawa, pork is also distributed in consideration of their unique food culture. This study clarifies the supply form of pork based on the Okinawa dietary culture, focusing on the method of disassembling, dividing, and shaping pork at each stage of slaughter and disassembly, wholesale, and retail. A survey was conducted and the following results were revealed. The slaughtering and disassembly stage involves the dismantling and shaping process adopted by the Okinawa Prefectural Meat Center, using the scalding method that leaves the forelimbs and hind limbs intact. At the wholesale stage, the meat wholesalers divide and shape the carcasses into “eclectic cuts, ” dividing the carcass into parts on high demand in Okinawa, while complying with the standard Japanese-style cut as the base. At the retail stage, the butcher shop supplies traditional pork cuts to Okinawa when eclectic cuts are not available.

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