木村 彰利

This paper presents a case study of farmers' markets in Higashi-Katsushika, Chiba Prefecture, a horticultural region in a suburban area of a large city. The study identifies, on the basis of survey findings, the role played by farmers' markets in local agricultural revitalization. The study revealed that farmers' markets in this region were not only used by local farmers to ship produce, as the relatively lenient conditions for shipping allowed sales by elderly and small-scale farmers as well. These conditions also enable subsistence farmers to engage in sales as well as allowing retiree farmers to return to produce sales and contribute to rejuvenation of local farming. Additionally, customers at the farmers' markets were primarily local residents who used the markets as part of their daily shopping routine. The study also revealed that the factors by which farmers' markets rejuvenated the Higashi-Katsushika region included it being a horticultural area as well as containing significant consumer demand.

This study took as a case study Higashi-Katsushika located in Chiba Prefecture, a horticultural region in a suburban area of a large city, to identify the distribution environment concerning direct shipment used by individual farmers and to investigate factors for the selection of points of distribution. The study revealed a tendency for individual farmers - those who are opposed to having their products assessed with that of other producers, as well as those who will not conform to the selection criterion of agricultural cooperatives - to opt for direct shipment instead of going through the shipment by agricultural cooperative. In addition to the above, the study also revealed that market prices, transportation time and cost, handling time, routine collection of goods and the relationship with the market representative were all contributing factors to the selection of distribution points among producers.

This study is required to overcome the problems with domestic soybeans. In this circumstance, the author discussed the current situation of the use of domestic soybeans and the evaluation and issues of soybeans as ingredients of processed food, based on the results of the interviews with 9 tofu producers inside Japan, with the purpose of using the study results as future references for producers and farmers' cooperatives to design measures for quality improvement. Consequently, it was found that tofu producers highly evaluate the safe and reliable image, high quality, and good taste of domestic soybeans, while being concerned about the instability of quality and sorting of domestic soybeans, and their unstable quantities and prices. In this study, the author clarified the details of such issues by referring to concrete cases.

This study investigated the produce wholesale market in the Tokatsu District of Chiba Prefecture in order to clarify direct shipment distribution system of vegetables by individual farmers. Firstly, collection of vegetables by individual farmers at the Tokatsu district wholesale market was clarified. Secondly, the distribution of individual farmer's vegetables in the Tokatsu district wholesale market was clarified. Thirdly, distribution of individual farmer produce in suburban areas of large cities was examined along with a comparison of the conditions of distribution of individual farmer produce from Tokatsu in the central wholesale markets in Tokyo and in the local wholesale markets of the southeastern portion of Saitama Prefecture. The Tokatsu district wholesale market, in both the morning and evening markets, is a very active destination for Tokatsu district farmers. In nearly all the markets, a regional collection system has been formed. Yet many producers also ship to wholesale markets in Tokyo. In certain wholesale markets, there is also a high percentage of collections from Ibaraki Prefecture, and collection areas could be extended. The morning market, a consumption district market, forms a regional distribution system whose main activity is distribution to the Tokatsu district. In the evening market, distribution to wholesale markets in the Keihin district or to the prefectures of Tohoku is high, with brokers and middle-wholesalers acting as intermediaries and these markets as shipping point markets.

Targeting four local wholesale markets in the southeastern area of Saitama Prefecture, an area adjacent to the Tokyo metropolis, which is included in the collection/distribution network of Tokyo's large wholesale markets and is situated near North Adachi Market, a branch of the Tokyo Metropolitan Central Wholesale Market, the research examined the following points: (1) How local products flow into these markets, paying particular attention to an influx of non-Saitama products and transfer shipments from other markets by checking transactions at the Morning Market and Evening Market. (2) How local products are shipped out of these markets, paying particular attention to sales to the local retailers as well as shipments to other markets by brokers by checking the twice-a-day transactions. (3) Clarification of the present role of the target market and special traits in collecting and distributing locally produced vegetables and fruits. Based on the research, it was clear that while market transactions with metropolitan markets are limited, the market is closely tied with intra-Saitama markets through interchanging products. At the Morning Market, these markets distribute products to nearby retail shops and to private/local supermarkets, thus showing the traits of a local-centered distribution system. Although handling of products brought in to the Morning Market by individual farmers is not extensive, locally produced merchandise shipped by farmers' unions and transferred from other markets is distributed for local consumption. In the evening, markets show a completely different face, that of a collection/distribution center for brokers to ship merchandise to major markets in the Keihin area. The paper concludes by stressing that the wholesale markets in this area thus play two roles, depending on the time of day.

The purpose of this research is to clarify the present situation and future problems of contract-based dealings, which promote volume sellers to strengthen partnership with producing districts using a wholesale market where wholesalers/middle-wholesalers function. A hearing investigation was made for buyers of vegetables and fruits at eight supermarkets, including leading global ones, in each block. The result shows that the target items of contract-based dealings were mostly major or important products in a vegetables and fruits market. This is because this type of dealing, due to a strong relationship with producing districts, makes it possible to obtain "differentiated products" and to purchase considerable amounts of such products on a regular basis. Even if prices are set in advance, they actually go up or down depending on the market price at each delivery time. Although the contract-based dealings with producing districts can easily lead to off-the-market distribution, volume sellers have been using this kind of dealing just because they can entrust the tasks such as volume control, negotiation with producing districts,distribution-related matters, etc., to wholesalers or middle-wholesalers. On the other hand, on-the-market-type contract-based dealings still have problems in volume control, risk arisen from changing market prices, unstable volume-availability and quality, etc..

Middle-wholesalers in the Main Market of Central Wholesale Market of Osaka City have been changing their functions due to a diversification spread of dealings with large-sized stores, along with the decrease in reselling to other wholesale markets, both circumstances are mainly an outcome of the decrease in the number of speciality retail stores. The subject of this thesis is to solve four problems on the basis of the results from a hearing research made to 29 middle-wholesalers who belong to the Main Market of Central Wholesale Market of Osaka City. These four problems are: the hierarchical structure of the middle-wholesalers and its characteristics I the actual reaction of the middle-wholesalers to large sized stores; the actual reaction of the middle-wholesalers to reselling to other markets; the actual situation of the middle-wholesalers who are making up corporate groups. Finally, the direction of functional changes in the middle-wholesalers of vegetables and fruits has been considered. As a result, as far as their reaction to large-sized stores is concerned, there exist some problems such as severe requirements on prices, a risk caused by unstable dealings, an existence of rebates, heavy delivery costs, costs and labor for processing work, and labor needed for classification. As far as their reaction to reselling is concerned, the low margin rate can be taken up as a problem. On the other hand, some large-sized middle-wholesalers are organizing their own groups and establishing firms for the purpose of buying-in outside the market. They seem to be putting business emphasis on this sort of direct buying-in method and, in turn, the groups are changing to an independent trading companies. In the future, market pressures will be placed on these middle wholesalers to drastically decrease their numbers because of a large-scale reorganization of many small dealers who still exist. Moreover, they will be changing their functions as they obtain additional roles of buying in agents for large-sized stores, processors and transporters, while keeping their present function as a middle-wholesaler.