This paper examined the contemporary world agro-food trade structure by focusing on the countries considered to represent its characteristic features: U.S.A., Mexico, China, Brazil, Vietnam and Japan. The research attempted to apply a combined methodology of the food regime analysis framework and the political economy of diet, both being intensively discussed and developed in the international academia of agro-food political economy. The results found, firstly, that the consumption of grains, oilseed products, and livestock products―‘Grain Complex Foods’―in the U.S. has tended to stagnate or even decline, while consumption of fresh fruits and vegetables, together with fish and seafood―‘Luxury Foods’―is increasing. Secondly, except for cooked foods and away-from-home eating, the Japanese population has reduced food consumption. Thirdly, the emerging countries tend to share the trend to a changing dietary pattern similar to American. Fourthly, class differentiated diets were clearly found in all countries where food expenditures by income class data is available. The contemporary agro-food trade structures of these countries were recognized to strongly reflect changes wherein the U.S. and Brazil export more Grain Complex Foods to these emerging countries while the former import more Luxury Foods on one hand, and the emerging countries drastically increase their Grain Complex Foods import while increasing their exports of Luxury Foods and highly industrially-manufactured foods on the other. One of the contradictory results of these structural changes is the extremely heavy dependence of Grain Complex Foods importers in basic foods on only one or a few oligopolistic exporters and agro-food complexes, which makes these importers` food security substantially vulnerable.

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Covid-19 disaster is a pandemic which has been affecting both the world economy and global consumer consciousness. This paper outlines the effect of Covid-19 on both consumer consciousness and consumer behavior, especially in terms of food consumption and offers potentially appropriate business responses. The change in these areas are typically seen in the New Generations, which is to say Millennials (Generation Y) and Generation Z. New Generations have several notable features, such as a health orientation, pursuit of social responsibility, environmental issue proactiveness, digital nativism, and value for money consideration. In addition, they prefer experience to product itself. With this in mind, marketers should try to enhance Consumer Experience Value. These consumer indicators point to the strategic marketing potentials.

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This paper deals with the issues concerning the development and change of the marketing system of locally produced foods and agricultural products in Japan. Local market issues have attracted much research interest in terms of agricultural economics and rural sociology since the 1980s. While the share of local vegetables at the wholesale market has gradually decreased, supermarket chains continue to sell local fruits and vegetables directly from local farms, thereby diversifying the assortment of fresh foods. Alternative marketing channels for local foods have also diversified. Nevertheless, the diffusion of CSA is still limited, while direct transaction by consumer cooperatives has changed the role for supporting local foods. The farmers’ market has diffused drastically in Japan since 1990s and contributed to the marketing development of local foods. However, an organizational-based operation system sometimes deprives the opportunity of direct communication between local vendors and customers. A case study at a farmers’ market in Chiba shows that the aging of vendors might cause the future decrease of both sales volume and assortment. Finally, the paper proposes a model for signifying people’s transformation about the commitment to the community.

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This study provides an overview of the impact of COVID-19 on food consumption, tourism, and agricultural management and clarifies the impact of reduced tourism and exchange opportunities on agriculture and rural areas in Okinawa. An overview of national trends from the statistical data analysis shows that, first, due to the impact of COVID-19, household expenditure on eating out, accommodation, and travel expenses package tours has decreased significantly, while spending on food has increased. Second, many farmers, especially those of tea, cattle, and institutional flower have been negatively affected. The points clarified from the case study of Okinawa are as follows. First, in rural areas, farmers’ incomes have decreased significantly due to the decrease in urban– rural exchanges. Additionally, the rural economy is greatly affected. Second, the sales of farmers engaged in the sixth industrialization have decreased significantly, and those who made large capital investments are facing difficulties. Third, in the beginning, the price of Japanese beef fell, negatively impacting the farmers. However, the price has almost recovered since then, and the impact is not as significant as it was initially.

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A situation of changes in the relationship between soybean producers and traders in Brazil is surveyed using the concepts and frameworks of governance and upgrading in Global Value Chain perspectives. The surveys focused on based on interviews with five entities: an agricultural consultant, a national laboratory, and three producers. The traders were predominant over the producers with sufficient finance resources and information up to the decades of 2000s. But in the 2010s, the producers came to own relatively increased bargaining power against the producers, acquiring both technical improvements and increased knowledge. Through such situational upgrading, the relationship between the producers and the traders changed in the 2010s from one of being captive to one which is modular and more relationally typical in terms of the five global value chain governance types.

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