This paper explains how hierarchical Bayesian models with random effects of consumer heterogeneity are useful in econometric analysis of consumer demand, especially food demand, using scanner panel data. Hierarchical Bayesian models are found to be very popular in marketing research but, in contrast, hardly used in consumer demand analysis. One of the main reasons will be the way econometric theory considers random-effects models, which are not always consistent in estimation. As scanner panel data are more and more used, hierarchical Bayesian models will gradually become popular in food demand analysis, which is part of agricultural economics as well as part of consumer demand analysis and therefore flexible enough to incorporate popular methods of other disciplines such as marketing research. Hierarchical Bayesian models can estimate the random effects of individual consumers as well as avoiding the problem of overfitting, thereby increasing generalization ability or improving external validity.

This study constructs a microeconomic model to explain how farmers determine, in the long run, the labor input and efficiency related to agricultural information collecting and processing when their labor input has learning-by-doing effects. Using the model, we analyze how that labor input and efficiency change as the smart farming technology services used by farmers improve. We illustrate situations where farmers are likely to face a trade-off between saving labor input and maintaining the efficiency as the technology services improve. Based on the analysis, we discuss the forms of smart farming technology services to avoid the trade-off.

When agricultural policymakers promote the accumulation of idle farmland to leading farmers, it is more important to predict the intentions of landowners (i.e., intentions to sell, rent, or cultivate) with high accuracy than to elucidate structural factors. In this study, we attempted to solve this problem by specifying a support vector machine (SVM) based on agricultural land information systems in two regions of the Tokyo metropolitan area. As a result, the SVM showed high prediction accuracy on the training data set and the test data set.

This study aims to consider the impact of employment on the cost of self-sufficient feed in TMR centers and the problem of human resources security. The main outcomes are as follows. First, full-time employment increases the cost of self-sufficient feed in TMR centers. Second, the introduction of a dairy farming helper business reduces the cost of self-sufficient feed in TMR centers. However, human resources combined with an operator and a dairy farming helper are insufficient. It is necessary to increase the human resources of the dairy farming helper section in future．

The objective of this study is to analyze the factor decomposition of the growth of Chinese agriculture in 2001-2020. The main outcomes are as follows. The growth rate of agricultural production was the lowest due to the decrease in planted area, machinery and labor for 2001-2003. Chinese production grew rapidly, because it is increased input of conventional factors for 2004-2015. However, the growth of agricultural production slowed down after 2016. The majority was due to the fact that the growth rate of chemical fertilizers and labor became negative and the growth rate of machinery and planted area became slower.

Japan concluded the MSA Section 550 agreement in 1954 and this is regarded as a trigger for the dependence on US agricultural commodities. This paper aims to examine the negotiation process and to explain the reason for the failure of the Section 402 agreement after 1954. For the recipient country, whereas the Section 550 agreement had the advantage of a combination of military and economic aid, the Section 402 agreement had little economic merit because the US plan was triangular trade with developing countries. The failure of the Section 402 agreement refutes the claim that the Section 550 agreement provoked Japan’s dependence on US food imports.

The objective of this study is to clarify factors for the existence of double cropping paddy farming in the Setouchi region, comparing Okayama and Kagawa Prefecture. Diversification of rice varieties has been progressing due to the policy supports for new demand rice and the high temperature damages caused by climate change after the 2010s. We clarified that disseminating late-ripening varieties is necessary to maintain double cropping farming. Large farmers in Okayama could extend the planting period, while community farms in Kagawa could not expand their farm size due to irrigation rules and late harvest of wheat without late-ripening varieties.