One of the important implications of the Agreement on Agriculture in the Uruguay Round is that the new type of managed trade policy maintaining current market shares in the farm trade has officially been confirmed, resulting in conditions favorable to the big exporting countries like US and EU. Even though a certain percentage of subsidies must be cut, they are essentially allowed to continue farm export subsidies to maintain export competitiveness. Importing countries like Japan, on the other hand, must maintain current levels of imports using tarrification to ensure current access opportunity and can not introduce new export subsidy policy measures even if a surplus of farm products exists.
　This agreement forces the member countries to change their internal farm policy to meet the requirements of the 20% AMS cut by the year 2000. As a result, Japan repealed the old act of rice management which had been in effect from 1942 to 1995 and has endorsed the new act. Under it, the previous role of the government as the main buyer and seller of rice, which contributed to controlling the price level and distribution, will be phased out and their new role is now limited to guaranteeing purchases, stocking and selling rice supplied by rice farmers who participate in the set-aside program for rice surplus, with managing minimum access rice. The government can prevent price increases caused by shortages of rice by planned stock, however, on the contrary, it may not be able to keep the lowest price level for producers because it cannot buy more than the expected stock volume from producers under the new program, which may result in an excessive decrease in the market price if participation in the program is less than expected.
　Greater price fluctuations and a lower price of rice will bring economic hardship to regional agriculture, especially to less favorable areas such as mountainous areas where the average production cost is usually higher. Government guaranteed rice prices supported local income in the less favorable areas. After the price of rice becomes more dependent on market mechanisms instead of the past managed system, a direct income payment policy measure to local farmers in the less favorable areas with no relation to production incentive, which looks unfamiliar to traditional Japanese farm policy, should be considered.

View full abstract

　Japanese rice farming which still needs a set-aside policy due to over production may lose its viability under the liberalization because of less competence. It will weaken the abilities of rural communities and will deteriorate their environment. The rice market will be soon deregulated so it will change from producer driven to consumer driven.
　It is important for paddy farming under the scattered strip system to order land use within a given community area. According to patterns of ordering by cooperatives or communities, paddy farming organizations can be classified as directly managed by a cooperative, indirectly supported by the same, managed by all farmers in one community, management of all paddy land in one community as one farm, or independent enterprises.
　After the stages of connecting farmers with their labors (Ⅰ), machines (Ⅱ), and lands (Ⅲ), Japanese paddy farming is targetted to be restructured from the viewpoint of the combination of production and rural life. To minimize the expanding gap between rural and urban populations, three concepts (efficiency, environment preservation, local enpowerment) should be unified and pursued. It is important to recognize not only market functions, but also their limitations.
　Farm land management should be composed of multiple strata, i.e. the stage of practicing agricultural works, planning of kinds of crops and rational usage of lands, unifying land rent and tenancy plots, establishing construction projects for farming and rural life, adjusting the law and institutions to meet the changing targets. Projects should be planned so that various types of inhabitants such as part-time farmers and workers who own land can participate in addition to full-time farmers. New systems by which project costs are paid by all the beneficiaries of the project, in a wide sense, should be established.

View full abstract

　The purpose of this paper was to examine the problems facing beef markets and production areas under the internationalization which was implemented in 1991 and carried out in 1995 pursuant to the conclusion of the Uruguay Round.
　The results of the study can be summarized as follows:
　(1) Four years have passed since Japan deregulated its beef trade and the amount of imported beef increased drastically until 1993, but the rate of increase decreased to moderate levels in 1994.
　(2) Domestic beef production costs are very high, not only because the scale of Japanese beef production is smaller than Australia, the U.S. and other nations, but also because of the higher cost of labor, distribution, etc. For these reasons, Japan's beef self-sufficiency rate will continue to decrease rapidly.
　(3) To cope with the shortage of labor in calf production areas, it is essential to establish regional centers for helping farmers do heavy farm works.
　(4) After the beef import liberalization, returns on beef production have been low because of low prices and high production costs. As a result of these economic changes, small farmers are giving up livestock raising. Large-scale farmers, however, are raising much more livestock on small-scale farms to minimize production costs. Consequently, on large-scale farms, environmental pollution such as underground water pollution and foul smells has led to very serious social problems which tend to hinder sustainable agricultural development. To prevent criticisms concerning livestock environmental pollution, it is necessary for the regional governments to help livestock farmers by constructing recycling centers for the use of barnyard manure as fertilizer, which will encourage the recycling of organic substances in the same area, and to foster crop-growing farms nearby.
　(5) Because the prices of Wagyu calves and carcass have been falling sharply since the beef import liberalizaion, it is necessary to improve the present calf and caracass price stabilization scheme.

View full abstract

　In proportion with the increase in imported agricultural products and the reduction of regional agriculture production, the expectations placed on the activities of agricultural cooperatives is increasing not only by their members but also by agricultural policy. However, it is an economic organization which is established by members. Therefore, the aims and measures of its activities on regional agriculture must match its own needs and characteristics.
　The conclusion of this paper is as follows:
　1) The cost of farm guidance business in agricultural cooperatives is covered by the profit from other businesses such as credit business and insurance business. According to the decrease in the earnings of these businesses in recent years, the number of farm advisers is being cut.
　2) Mergers of agricultural cooperatives will make joint efforts between agricultural cooperatives and local governments more difficult.
　3) Farmland use management by agricultural cooperatives requires the participation of different types of members. Several conditions are necessary for this type of business.
　4) In areas where family farms are threatened, support by agricultural cooperatives is an important and effective means of creating new types of agricultural farms.

View full abstract