The purposes of this paper are to clarify the theoretical factors of food trade and to show case studies of the structural changes of food demand & supply and self-sufficiency ratio. According to trade theory, the self-sufficient ratio of food is determined by the structures of production and consumption, and price condition. In particular, the transformation of production resources in the agricultural sector is a more practical subject than that between non-agriculture and agriculture. We have to investigate the process and cost of the adjustment among sectors in agriculture.
The self-sufficient ratio has been discussed in relation to food security. According to the definition of food security, the sufficient quantity of domestic production when we are faced with an urgent food crisis is a part of food security. The ratio is rather an index that represents the conditions at ordinal situation.
The recent decrease in the ratio is related to the change of the phase from relative to absolute reduc-tion of domestic production. It is because there is an insufficient political system to evaluate the economic value of the non-market resources.
From the viewpoint of the food system, the weight of food consumption in households has been decreasing; on the other hand the weight in processing and food service sectors has been increasing drastically. Therefore providing materials for domestic production becomes more important. According to the case study of soybeans, the processing sector faces an unstable domestic market and it receives relatively less than the political support to farmers.
The self-sufficient ratio of soybeans and wheat has been affected by the set-aside program for rice. The area of paddy fields has a decreasing trend and the utilized percentage is below 100%. From the viewpoint of efficient utilization of agricultural resources, we have to reconstruct the adjustment program of paddy fields.

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The aim of this paper is to investigate the political conditions for increasing the domestic wheat production in the years ahead, through an analysis of the development of Japan's postwar wheat policy and the trends in the supply, demand and production of wheat in Japan, focusing on the changes in planted acreage and the amount of production, and the matching of demand and production. There have been two wheat policies in postwar times; the 'main policy,' which considers the supply, demand and production of wheat as a subject to be treated directly, and the 'policy of reducing rice production,' which deals with the production of wheat by regarding wheat as an alternative crop.
The supply, demand and production of wheat in the postwar period has been greatly influenced by the 'main policy' and the 'policy of reducing rice production.' It has developed in response to political and economic changes. Analysis of these influences shows that the following conditions are required to increase domestic wheat production under the present 'main policy,' which has changed from an indirect system controlled by the government to a private distribution system. First, it is essential to establish a standard price unit for Funds to Keep the Management of Wheat Production Stable (bakusaku-keiei-antei-shikin) and Grants to Promote the Improvement of Quality (hinshitsu-kaizen-shorei-gaku), which will mean that the average producers' price for all wheat brands will be able to make up for the average production cost for paddy field production in all prefectures except Hokkaido. Secondly, on the premise that the first condition has been achieved, price differentials should be applied to each wheat brand, based on the quality of the wheat, the dealing price and the state of the mismatch. Effective boundary measures should be set up to guarantee domestic wheat production.

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Total self sufficiency in coarse feed and an increase in self-supplied feed were set as an important policy goal of the basic plan of Japanese agricultural policy. In order to design the self-supplied feed policy system for it, it is necessary to clearly define the social meaning of enlargement of self-supplied feed production.
This dissertation is arranged from four different points of view, that is, the improvement of food self-sufficiency rate, the improvement of livestock self-sufficiency rate, management of the resource circulating system and effective land utilization. Accordingly, the shift of policy and current conditions were analyzed responding to these policy goals.
As a result, the self-supplied feed policy framework is not merely restricted to the livestock policy framework, but a regional and environmental policy to guarantee the multifunctionality of the grassland and livestock. Furthermore, this dissertation will discuss the creation of a new relationship that emphasizes the collaboration of nature and livestock; the cooperation of the field farmers and the livestock farmers is also necessary. The independence of the local government on agricultural policy will need to be seriously considered.

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The Chisan-Chisho movement is an alternative local agro-food distribution in Japan. Its origin lies in regionalism. It did not spread as alternative of the wide area-mass distribution, although local distribution had been opposed since the 1970s, because there were various difficulties. The food scandals which occurred frequently after September 2001 caused a loss of consumer trust. The disposition of consumers to choose agricultural commodities produced nearby as much as possible was strongly ignited by this situation. The term and practice of Chisan-Chisho began to spread quickly from at time. Farmers' markets are one form of Chisan-Chisho. There are roles played in the management of local agricultural-and-forestry resources, a community relationship, and the regional economy in each. In recent years, competition between farmers' markets has been intensifying, and they are scaling up, while small-scale farmers' markets are decreasing in number.
The limitations of Chisan-Chisho are as follows. (1) Regulation of demand and supply is difficult. (2) Assortment is difficult. (3) Dealings in all seasons are difficult. (4) Prices tend to change. As a precondition which promotes Chisan-Chisho, the state control of elemental-diet food is indispensable. Because of the many measures which used Japanese wheat in the school lunch, the consumer-price of wheat was not realized without a national food policy. On the other hand, the Japanese government deregulated the distribution of elemental-diet food, which promoted Chisan-Chisho in the school lunch at the local government level. From these things, I think that the localization of food and agriculture is required. We have to protect local food and agriculture, and it must start with conversion to a better system.

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