The postwar wheat policy, and the supply, demand and production of wheat

The aim of this paper is to investigate the political conditions for increasing the domestic wheat production in the years ahead, through an analysis of the development of Japan's postwar wheat policy and the trends in the supply, demand and production of wheat in Japan, focusing on the changes in planted acreage and the amount of production, and the matching of demand and production. There have been two wheat policies in postwar times; the 'main policy', which considers the supply, demand and production of wheat as a subject to be treated directly, and the 'policy of reducing rice production', which deals with the production of wheat by regarding wheat as an alternative crop. The supply, demand and production of wheat in the postwar period has been greatly influenced by the 'main policy' and the 'policy of reducing rice production'. It has developed in response to political and economic changes. Analysis of these influences shows that the following conditions are required to increase domestic wheat production under the present 'main policy', which has changed from an indirect system controlled by the government to a private distribution system. First, it is essential to establish a standard price unit for Funds to Keep the Management of Wheat Production Stable (bakusaku-keiei-anteishikin) and Grants to Promote the Improvement of Quality (hinshitsu-kaizen-shorei-gaku), which will mean that the average producers' price for all wheat brands will be able to make up for the average production cost for paddy field production in all prefectures except Hokkaido. Secondly, on the premise that the first condition has been achieved, price differentials should be applied to each wheat brand, based on the quality of the wheat, the dealing price and the state of the mismatch. Effective boundary measures should be set up to guarantee domestic wheat production.