Distribution and Marketing

  The farm products made in the country distribute all over the world as well as the whole country. Similarly, a lot of farm products imported from the foreign countries appear in the country. Because I cannot write a blog about agriculture of the world, I mainly want to write it about the distribution and marketing of the Japanese agriculture . 
 
  As for the old Japanese agriculture, stable management was guaranteed by only producing cereals thanks to protection and the price of farm products guarantee. However, international pressure to press for such an agriculture politics abolition is strengthened and by the trade freedom of farm products by the participation to WTO, these protection gradually decreases and the Japanese agriculture comes to be affected directly from the trend of the grain price in the international market. Because the major company's participating and cheap farm products from foreign countries were imported by the import freedom of farm products, high added value kinds attract attention in countries where agriculture of price competitiveness is low.  

  In addition, farmhouses only doing  production for self increase without shipping it by the aging of the agriculturalist, and the farmhouse shipping to a farm co-op (JA) and market decreases. However, the sales amount of the farm products direct sale place increases nationwide, and the direct marketing to consumers, retail stores and a restaurant are generalized and the market spreads, too. 

  Because the import freedom of farm products advanced, the market price is affected by the global market and ceases to rise in price as the past, and this is one factor that management turns worse. In late years the food price in the global market soars, but the price of the import food in Japan does not go up too much to advance to the strong yen, and a plan to enlarge the area under tillage to give profit and  increase amount of production appears when market price is low, but a suitable fund is necessary to switch it to a large-scale farmhouse and return of a loan is difficult. So the collection of the farmland by the individual management does not readily go ahead. In addition, the new farmland reclamation in the country is difficult and cannot manage the farm of the ha unit, too.

  On the other hand, in the United States a ratio of cost of the agriculture among the food expenses in the family budget decreases and cost of food processing, the distribution and the marketing increase. This means that not only productivity of the agriculture improved, but also high value-added foods increased. And the oligopoly advances, and the product of 20 high ranks food company comes to account for overall half in 1995 and doubles in comparison with 1954. Even as for the distribution, oligopoly advanced, and The ratio among the food sale of 6 chains of supermarket high ranks of America became 50%  in 2000. In a sense the oligopoly becomes the efficiency improvement, but there may be adverse effects for farm villages.