The Course of Japanese Agriculture under the 2E2F Crisis

We use the term “2E2F Crisis” to refer to the global crisis involving the environment, energy, food, and financial systems. The purpose of this research is to discuss the contents and characteristics of the food crisis that constitutes part of the 2E2F Crisis, and to present a framework for the future of Japanese agriculture. In this paper, “agricultural crisis” is added as an object of consideration. Specifically, the study looks at the following three points. First, this paper looks at a series of critical situations involving the environment, energy, food (agriculture), and finance in and after the second half of 2006, and clarifies the contents and character of the current Food Crisis by comparing it with the World Food Crisis of 1973-74. Moreover, this paper analyzes the character of the Agricultural Crisis (Depression) of the 1920s and 1930s, and the Agricultural Recession (especially in the United States) of the first half of the 1980s, seeking clues for the possibility of a future agricultural crisis. Second, this paper reconfirms the international and internal position of Japanese agriculture today, proposes the principle of agricultural trade based on the universal and fundamental worth of agriculture, and presents a future direction for the achievement of “sustainable agriculture”. Third, based on the above, this paper presents a future direction for Japanese agriculture which positions agriculture as a basic industry in Japanese society, and also shows how a society can be developed that will allow agriculture to take root. Moreover, the paper discusses concrete tasks and the direction for raising the capability for food self-sufficiency and a self-sufficiency ratio.