In this paper, we tried to explain how agriculture has influenced the development of economic theories. Physiocracy was born with idea that nature (=agriculture) produces wealth. Growth of capitalist farming in England helped the establishment of classical economics. As the wage-fund doctrine and natural wage theory of classical economics were founded on the predominance of agricultural economy and the agricultural nature of decreasing return, changes of those natures led into the fall of classical economics and the birth of neoclassical economics. Neoclassical economics of the present is exemplified by cases of agriculture. The exchange-type market image of neoclassical economics is also based on agriculture.

This study aims to examine the factors that induced farmland abandonment in Japan. First, we adopt the household model to evaluate which factors influence the derived demand of farmland and how they do so. Second, we estimate an empirical model to evaluate the validity of the household model and examine the factors that drove land abandonment. The theoretical and empirical result revealed that if the supply of labor in the rural areas is limited, aging in rural areas decreases the derived demand of farmland which in turn results in arising farmland abandonment.

The objective of this study is to theoretically determine the conditions for Pareto optimal collaborative labor supply considering benefits produced by collaborative work as public good. The methodology is coalitional game that can express network externalities. The study suggests that when there is little diversity among local residents, the number of collaborative workers at the initial condition increases and local residents are more likely to cooperate for preventing free-riding. However, when there is much diversity among local residents, despite the sufficient number of collaborative workers at the initial condition, the possibility that there is no collaborative work on local resources is high.

The objective of this study is to analyze the impact of agricultural promotion measures on the total factor productivity (TFP) of wheat. The study used province-level pooled data from 1999 to 2015 and estimates the TFP and its relation with the agricultural promotion measures. The results show that the trend of wheat TFP since 2004 seems to accelerate. Furthermore, estimation results revealed that subsidies and support on agricultural investment for water supply improvement have significantly contributed to the improved TFP.

Empirical analysis of food demand based on microeconomic theory is often implemented at some level of product aggregation. Improper aggregation, however, leads to biased estimates of demand elasticities, market power, or social welfare. Lewbel's (1996) GCCT (Generalized Composite Commodity Theorem) test provides a means effective for appropriate aggregation. The GCCT is tested using dairy products POS data, and the independence between aggregated log-price index and relative log-price is rejected in most products. Results suggest that aggregating individual dairy product is not consistent with consumer theory.

This study focused on apples, grapes, and pears, which Hong Kong imported. LA/AIDS was estimated by using trade statistics from 2003 to 2017. The results of this study indicate that Japanese fruits hold a competitive advantage over the fruits from other countries for their high quality. Improving price competitiveness and quality competitiveness at the same time could be a key for the successful promotion of Japanese fruits in international markets.

Since China joined the WTO in 2001, the Sanitary and Phytosanitary (SPS) Measures and Technical Barriers to Trade (TBT) Measures turned into one of the most important elements affecting the fruit export of China. Meanwhile, according to the New-New Trade Theory, the export volume could be influenced by both the trade volume of exported goods (IM, intensive margin) and the varieties of exported goods (EM, extensive margin). In this research, China's export fruit is divided into edible fruit and processed fruit, and export value is divided into IM and EM. The influence of SPS and TBT in import countries is empirically analyzed with the Gravity Model. A comparison of the results of SPS and TBT influence on edible fruit and processed fruit shows that SPS measures have an export-inhibiting effect on edible fruit and processed fruit, while TBT measures only have the effect on processed fruit.

The objective of this study is to clarify the characteristics of unpaid farm volunteer concerning working conditions and working environment with a case study. The main outcomes are as follows. First, many unpaid farm volunteers work only half a day, one or two days a week. They work weekly because their working conditions are convenient. Second, unpaid farm volunteers are not workers, and farmers provide them with a comfortable working environment. So unpaid farm volunteers have been working continuously for several years with health recreational effects.

This study makes clear that the role of foreign workers on Japanese farms has become very important both quantitatively and qualitatively. The main type of foreign workers supporting Japanese farms is technical interns and they now comprise more than 10% of all employees on farms with a higher share of farmers working in several areas where foreign workers are being permitted for kinds of agriculture due to technical intern training programs. The current keen lack of labor has made Japanese agriculture accept more foreign workers not only unskilled technical interns, but also skilled labor receiving engineer/human visas after graduating from foreign colleges.

This paper aims to analyze the role of technical intern trainees in the management development of the large-scale agricultural corporation, by comparing the developing farm management of two agriculture corporatives that are dependent on employed workers. The findings of the analysis are as follows : Large-scale agricultural corporations which are engaging in new business or expansion farm production are introducing technical intern trainees for low cost labor. Technical intern trainees are regarded as flexible workers in organizations with specialization of farm working.