This paper presents a segmentation and characteristic profile of consumers who value sustainable dairy production through Green House Gas reduction and feed self-sufficiency in milk. The analysis classified consumers by estimating a latent class model (LCM) of the discrete choice experiment response data, and calculated the marginal willingness to pay (WTP) for changes in the additional attributes of each class. The LCM analysis of the discrete choice experiments shows that the WTP of the additional attributes varies significantly among consumers, with the high WTP class accounting for approximately 50 percent of the consumers who purchase milk. A large majority of that class are middle-aged to elderly people, 50 years of age or older, with high annual household income. These consumers tend to purchase higher-priced items for their daily consumption compared to other classes, with no major difference in the amount of milk consumed. This analysis reveals that classifying consumers into such clearly-defined classes allows us to identify different attributes and characteristics from those found when assessing the whole population as a single group. The segmentation of consumers is useful in developing marketing strategies informed by the preferences of the target group for the products being sold.

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This study examined the patterns of cooperation between organizations in a food recycling loop in Matsuyama City, Ehime Prefecture in order to identify organizational actions in resolving the factors that limit the development and operation of sustainable food recycling loop. The food recycling loop in this study is composed of supermarkets, compost manufacturers, and local farmers, where compost manufacturers manage compost production using food wastes from the supermarket, local farmers grow vegetables with the compost, and the supermarket sells the vegetables. Based on this analysis, the actions that help to resolve the factors that limit the construction of sustainable food recycling loop are as follows. Firstly, it is necessary that supermarkets do business with compost manufactures under the condition that the expenses of recycling are the same or lower than the charges for disposing general wastes from business activities to their waste destination sites. In addition, supermarkets need to regularly maintain food wastes quality by ensuring that the process of food waste segregation and storage is followed by all employees, including part time workers. Secondly, compost manufacturers need to help local farmers recognize the necessity of applying compost to their field. Moreover, compost manufactures need to manufacture suitable compost according to the soil texture of the region, and it is important to return the compost to farmland via multi-item cultivation throughout the year and provide high quality compost at a low selling price. Thirdly, local farmers using compost need to understand how the compost they use is manufactured and cultivate standardized farm products that supermarkets want to sell. These activities contribute to not only reducing environmental burdens but also yield regional contributions and produce economic effects. From the above results, these activities are factors that enable sustainable food recycling loop.

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The purpose of this study is to summarize the background of changes in transactions in the wholesale flower market, and to clarify the process of transaction reform and its effects and impacts, mainly using Osaka Tsurumi wholesale flower market as a case study. In wholesale flower markets, mechanical auction was introduced mainly in large markets that were developed after 1990, but as demand for pre-auction trading increased, web sales were introduced, and in many places, this has now become the mainstream of transactions. In addition, an increasing number of wholesale markets are introducing home-participation auction and image auction as options. Osaka Tsurumi wholesale flower market has taken the opportunity of the COVID-19 disaster to shift entirely to home-participation auctions and image auctions, as well as to shift from the morning market to an evening market. These trading reforms have proven to have a number of benefits for the market, including reducing the workload of wholesalers, expanding the trading area of wholesalers and middlemen, reducing the purchasing burden on trading participants, reducing the deterioration of the quality of flowers in the wholesale market, and reducing the cost of renovating the auction system. On the other hand, the expansion of web sales and home-participation auctions will not only reduce the volume handled by middlemen, but also likely further widen the gap between wholesale markets.

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This study clarifies production and distribution channels for pollination bees by a beekeeping company labelled Company “A”, and identifies problems for sustainable production of pollination bees. In Japan, Okinawa Prefecture is a suitable region to produce pollination bees. In fact, the production of pollination bees has been increasing in Okinawa over the past decade. However, the beekeeping industry in Okinawa is currently facing a shortage of breeding areas, rising feed prices, and other problems. As for the trade system, many beekeepers in Okinawa sell bees to Company “A” through the producer organization to which they belong. Company “A” transports the Okinawan bees to a facility in Gifu Prefecture, where they are inspected and priced. It is difficult for beekeepers in Okinawa to find buyers and transport bees to them on their own. Therefore, Company “A” is an important link to the beekeeping industry in Okinawa.

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