Recently, consumer concerns towards "food safety" is rising all over the world due to various factors. Due to the increase in high consciousness, many universities have engaged in research and education on food safety. In April 2015, Tohoku University launched the International Education and Research Center for Food and Agricultural Immunology (CFAI). This Center is performing research focused on food and agricultural immunology. Agricultural immunology is a general term for new technologies that realize healthy fostering of agricultural and livestock products by strengthening immune functions. In order to disseminate such new food technologies, it is necessary to investigate consumer preferences. The aim of this paper is to examine consumer’s preference for immune-health promoted pork which is a newly developed food technology. Using 300 Japanese respondents’ data, conjoint analysis is applied to estimate individual preference for pork attributes. Selected attribute categories include production method, producing area, and prices. The results show that the consumers’ evaluation for immune-health promoted pork is higher than pork raised under normal production method indicating that consumers evaluate unknown new food technology. Respondents’ positive preference on pork produced in Japan is also examined. Detailed empirical analysis on pork choice shows that brand lovers tends to choose the new food technology pork. The impact of personal concern level on production method on pork choice is investigated. Furthermore, on the determinants of the concern level, it is shown that rich people tend to believe that the normal breeding method of pork is risky.

2018年度から生産調整が大きく見直され，国による生産数量目標の配分が廃止される．それと同時に，生産調整への参加メリットとして「生産調整の円滑な推進」に大きな役割を果たしてきた米の直接支払い交付金（7,500円/10a）も2018年から廃止されることになった．生産調整政策の見直しは水田農業にどのような影響をおよぼすのであろうか．本研究では主食用米の大規模産地であり，かつ生産調整を達成している秋田県大潟村において，生産調整実施体制や作目の構成，担い手経営の経営展開を明らかにし，生産調整配分廃止後の作目の変化や生産調整の実効性を吟味することを目的とする．秋田県は新潟，北海道に次ぐ米の主産地であるとともに生産調整を超過達成している地域だからであり，生産調整の戦略作物では加工用米が多いという特徴をもつ．大潟村は生産調整実施面積の88.8％を加工用米が占め，秋田県内でも加工用米による転作がすすんでいる地域である．

研究方法は大潟村農業再生協議会および大潟村の大規模農家３戸の聞き取り調査である．そこから明らかになったのは以下である．第１に，作目構成は大きく変わらないということである．加工用米（モチ米）は需要の引き合いが強く，価格も良いこと，交付金という固定収入の安心感もあり，2018年度も加工用米による生産調整対応が中心になると考えられる．しかし第２に，販路に自信がある農家では主食用米を増やす意向であり，とも補償も廃止されることから，これまでのように転作の深掘りの維持とはなりにくく，生産調整の実効性がやや後退すると考えられる．

This study aimed to identify farmers’ difficulties in accessing cattle under a rise in beef price and to describe cattle sharing, a strategy they undertake to improve their access to cattle. A survey using qualitative data with in-depth interviews was administered to 13 farmers in the Malang district, one of the big five cattle production regions in the East Java province, which experienced the highest production increase among provinces in 2013-2015 after the big cattle depopulation in 2012-2013. The results showed that during 2010-2015, cattle price rose following a rise in beef price. This rise in cattle price made it difficult for farmers, particularly smallholders, to access cattle. Most of the interviewed farmers joined a cattle sharing system. Cattle sharing in the Malang district (1) did not involve a written contract, making the agreement more flexible under a rise in beef price; (2) involved actors who are mostly neighbors or relatives, limiting the participation of other potential investors, and on the other hand, facilitating the contract because both parties knew each other’s skill levels; (3) constituted two types of cattle management: owner-initiated cattle sharing and farmer-initiated cattle sharing. A farmer’s skills and financial support proved to be keys to a successful cattle sharing system and to an increase in cattle production.

This study experimentally attempted to verify the effectiveness of product development based prototyping in agricultural management related to the sixth industrialization. Verification results revealed that the following two main aspects are vital when utilizing product development based prototyping. First, (1) product planning, (2) internal evaluation, (3) external evaluation, (4) sales testing showed to be effective tools. In addition, various basic information can be obtained if a simple survey on internal and external evaluation is conducted. Second, in order to be succeed in product development in the sixth industrialization, carrying out of sales testing of prototypes and immediate feedback on evaluation results to parties involved both at an early stage is a vital during prototyping. From these facts, it is possible that the systematic prototyping shown in this paper can be expected to make use of it in improving the earnings at the start-up in the sixth industrialization.

Regional government supported institutions has been established in each prefecture as a reliable intermediary manager of farmlands to accelerate farmland to business farmers in 2014 in Japan. However, the institution is not used very much in the prefecture that a ratio is high in of the orchard among the farmland. This paper provides a case study of the institutions in Ehime prefecture where the orchard ratio of farmland is high. The purpose of this study is to clarify the reason why the institution is not used for in orchard areas.

The findings of this paper is as follows: (1)When farmers rent an orchard from the institutions, they would confirm orchards by oneself in order to collect more information about farmland than the institution has. (2)It takes long time before farmers rent farmland from the institution. (3)Farmers think that the program of institution cannot prevent an orchard from being abandoned. (4)Even if farmers utilize this intermediary institution’s system, land owners cannot get subsidies for providing their farmland.

We clarify the procurement strategies from broiler breeding farmers and the sales strategies to wholesale/- retail, which are mainly conducted through broiler processing companies. We have taken up case examples of broiler processing companies Z, XD and XC in Shandong Province, which has the highest production volume. Broiler processing company Z is an integrator, which has been attempting to become more integrated upstream via marketing contracts with poultry farmers or cooperatives. When looking into XD, X, which is a major feed sales company, is observed to have become an integrator. Noticeably X has established the subsidiary company XD, while subsequently, XD established a broiler cooperative which make marketing contracts and production contracts with poultry farmers to integrate materials, breeding and processing. In the case of the XC company, the fact that C broiler cooperative engaged in broiler breeding is an integrator has led to the establishment of a processing company XC through capital collaboration with the major feed sales company X. In sales strategies, all the three companies secure sales volume by means of utilizing major wholesale sales channels and, intertwining partnership with wholesale companies. In procurement strategies, Company Z procures broilers selected a relatively cost saving channel of marketing contracts. X, the parent company of XD, is mainly deployed in production contracts. This is in part due to X integrating materials, breeding and processing and emphasis on the stable supply of broilers is valued more in X than Z. On the other hand, XC's procurement is depended on the C cooperative, whereas the C cooperative predominately encompasses covers procurement by a directly managed farm. The president of C cooperative began as a large-scale poultry farmer, and then expanded its business to processing. Broiler processing companies can be observed to adopt various methods on procurement strategies, while sales strategies are seldom taken into consideration.

This study sought to implement a production management system to facilitate the management of large-scale rice farming and to clarify the challenges associated with adopting such a system. Fundamental data collected by farmers and inputted into a production management system should include the date and working hours spent on each agricultural activity. These data are then associated with land use information, such as area, and mapped. By combining these data, it is possible to clarify the amount of time required for each agricultural activity. Further, the underlying reasons for any problems associated with implementing agricultural activities can be identified and analyzed. We applied such a system to improve the production of rice, soybeans and other crops on a large-scale farm, “Farm A”. For example, differences in overall efficiency were observed by adopting puddling in rice production. Furthermore, by analyzing the different aspects of soybean production it was found that a disproportionate amount of time was spent on weeding. Thus, by using a production management system it is possible to improve agricultural production. To realize management improvements using a production management system, farmers need to record such the data and then implement production improvements on their own initiative.

Rural-to-urban labour migration is a well-known effective way to promote employment, improve income and reduce poverty in rural China. However, there has been a growing debate on whether the rural-to-urban labour migration could still play an important role as an economic slowdown and limited demographic dividend. Using a regional dataset, the present paper examines the effect of rural-to-urban labour migration on poverty reduction in poverty-stricken areas of Western China. The results show that rural-urban labour migration has a significant positive effect on improving income and reducing poverty, while the influence coefficient has not declined yearly, there is however a gap among different ethnic groups. Therefore, the government should adopt targeted policies to encourage and support rural labour migration, especially for poor ethnic-minority areas where it is difficult to improve livelihoods through local production. Along with this, more supporting policies or projects should pay attention to rural migrants of certain ethnic groups.