日本の農業政策は消費者負担型から納税者負担型への転換を遂げつつあり，直接支払いが担い手経営の財政基盤を支えている．直接支払制度は国際規律に則ったものであり，かつ国民負担の観点から透明性の高い政策といえるが，その経営成果に及ぼす影響や政策理念に相応しい担い手像については，これまで十分な検証が行われてこなかった．そこで本稿では，確率的フロンティア生産関数を用いて，直接支払いが技術効率性に及ぼす影響と経営形態別の経営成果を比較した．計量分析の結果，直接支払いへの依存度が高い経営体ほど技術効率性が低く，また，比較的規模の大きな個別経営と集落営農の効率性の間には，有意差が存在しないことが明らかとなった．

本稿の課題は自治村落論における範域論争の意義の通史的検討である．上位権力との交渉によって力を蓄えた近世村を農協の受け皿の単位とする齋藤仁の自治村落論は，海外農村研究者によって応用される一方，多くの日本近代史家に批判された．彼らは，齋藤が初期農民運動の範域を近世村（「藩政村」）＝大字＝農業集落と定義したことに着目し，三者が統計的に一致しないとして，齋藤の自治村落論を覆そうとした（「範域論争」）．先行研究を概観した結果，日本の農村社会では古代から近代まで行政単位も生産単位も分裂や統合を繰り返しており，近世村・大字・農業集落の関係は時代によって異なることが判明した．よって，範域論争は自治村落論の根幹を覆すような批判ではなく，論争の影響は部分的なものに限定されるといえる．

The objective of this paper is to analyze the characteristics of food consumption in aged-couple and aged-one-person households ; thus, households consisting of an aged couple or aged single are focused on in the study. The expenditure elasticities of household food consumption are estimated with Engel functions by using corresponding data from the National Survey of Family Income and Expenditure. The main findings from the empirical study imply that the food consumption of both aged-couple and aged-single households have a tendency to depend on the outsourcing of their meals.

In recent years, intellectual property (IP) rights are increasingly essential to improve competitive power in agriculture. The purpose of this study is to propose directions of future research concerning IP rights. An analysis of existing literature on IP rights in agricultural economics, law and business administration changes along with policy trends reveals three crucial directions : 1) to apply IP management theory to the agricultural sector ; 2) to investigate effective use of different IP rights in agriculture ; and 3) to consider the characteristics of public communities which agricultural IPs have.

This study examined whether consumer knowledge, such as breed or place of production, of regional meat brands, would enhance brand evaluation of the products. We conducted a questionnaire survey in 2015 for the consumers of Kagoshima kurobuta, Joshu mugibuta, and Tankaku, which are brands of meat. Structural equation modeling revealed that knowledge was positively associated with high evaluation and the willingness to purchase the brand again. Compared to consumers in Tokyo, consumers living in the prefectures where the meat was produced tended to have a higher estimation of its value owing to their emotional evaluation based on attachment.

Compared with the prediction results from a previous study using the Census of Agriculture, many small- and middle-scale dairy farms have sustained themselves in Hokkaido. The main factors are as follows. First, there are many farmers with a scale down. Second, famers over 65 years old continue to operate their farms. Third, especially in small-scale farms, there are some new-entry farmers.

This study analyzes farmers' motivations for adopting Kohnotori-hagukumu Nouhou (KHN), a conservation-oriented farming method for nurturing oriental storks, thus reducing pesticide use and promoting organic farming. The adoption of KHN poses risks to farmers. Hence, identifying individual farmers' motivations is crucial for an effective and efficient diffusion of KHN. In this respect, we find that the strongest motivations for adopting KHN include the cultivation of higher quality rice, increasing profits, and growing premium-branded rice. Finally, most farmers' adoption decisions are not led by an inclination toward storks' conservation, although KHN was originally designed for the conservation of this species.

The objective of this study is to evaluate the effects of the increase in the consumption tax rate on household demand for food items and domestic production and import of food through the decrease in the household demand, by using demand system analysis and input-output analysis, respectively. Results include that the effects of the increase in tax rate of 8% to 10% with a reduced tax rate system on consumption of food items can vary, and the effects on domestic agricultural and livestock productions can be negative.

To counter the crop-raiding by wildlife, community-based measures are practical and desirable. To promote the measures, the role of local government is important, though little has been investigated in this aspect. Thus, this paper sheds light on such measures by a questionnaire survey to the head of local communities to contrast different policies in Oita and Chiba Prefectures. We made a comparative analysis of the conducted measures between the two prefectures and found that it is important for this purpose to provide not only subsidies for the measures but also to build a flexible and cooperative relationship among local people concerned.

The purpose of this study is to consider the development of the Farmland Bank land its factors, focusing on the relasionthip with the JA organizations in Ibaraki Prefecture. In Ibaraki, 3,627 ha of farm and were gathered for Farmlands Bank from 2014 to 2015. It is 5^th largest area in Japan. The Farmlands Bank in Ibaraki outsources its business only to municipalities, but the JA organizations are not involved. However, high performance in Ibaraki could be achieved just by the transformation from illegal farmland leases to utilization rights without any relationship with JA organizations. Our analysis shows that we have to focus on pre-conditions of the farmland market when we evaluate the farmland Bank's performance.

In this study, we have surveyed the process of collaboration between regional agriculture,commerce and industry on a special red pepper in Ohtawara City, Tochigi Prefecture. The main object of this study was to clarify how the collaboration played a role in the development of the production area. The main outcomes are as follows : Local commercial entities adjust the interests between the farmers and a food company. The company provides seeds of the red pepper to farmers for free and buys the products from them at a high price. These activities encourage the development of the production area.

The objective of this study is to analyze the characteristics of food consumption in young-aged households from the viewpoint of their income difference and household characteristics. Accordingly, young-aged households are classified as a double-career or a single-career household, and households containing only husband and wife, or households with children. The expenditure elasticities of household food consumption are estimated with Engel functions by using corresponding data from the National Survey of Family Income and Expenditure. The main finding from the empirical study is as follows ; although young families have a tendency to depend on convenient food, large expenditure elasticities of homemade meals, which indicate a heavy contribution of homemade meals to the diet, are also observed for relatively low income families.

In this paper, we focused on cooperation between different industries in manufacturing and agriculture, and examined the background of technological innovation and the conditions for continuing cooperation as a project with the use of economics concepts and case analysis. As a result, we found that the change in the economic environment of each cooperating entity in recent years is an incentive for technological innovation. As a condition for establishing cooperation that contributes to agricultural technological innovation, farmers' understanding of new technologies, mutual trustbuilding, and long-term business planning of the manufacturing industry are indispensable.

This paper investigates how the food industry carriest out food-education activities and their effects on beneficiary families by focusing on the Kewpie Company's program. The data were collected by a questionnaire survey to the parents of school children who were the beneficiaries of this program conducted at school as "a delivery class". We employed an ordered probit model to analyze how the effect of the food-education program on the dietary habits of school children and the mothers' impressions of Kewpie varies according to the attributes of households.

The purpose of this study is to clarify meaning of entries into the agricultural sector by welfare facilities for persons with disabilities owned by private companies. These activities have many varieties, but they can be classified into four types by the way in which they were established. Compared with social-welfare corporations and special subsidiary companies, those welfare facilities have many strengths in the agricultural world. As a result, they will become the farms which can support the regional agriculture where they are located and we should support their activities in the agricultural sector.

This study analyzes the social system for disabled people by combining living support and creation of opportunity in agriculture. A case of focus is Saitama Fukko Co., Ltd. in Kumagaya City, Saitama Prefecture. The main results are as follows. Saitama Fukko Co., Ltd. forms a social system for agriculture based on living support projects for persons with disabilities. We can evaluate this social system as generalizable. The company assumed the risk, which led to the stable management of an NPO Group Farm, and plays a significant part by mediating collaboration between agriculture and welfare in the area outside the corporate group.