Population Decline, Population Aging and the Expansion of Farm Operations

「In Japanese agriculture, the operating environment surrounding producers remains challenging due to the declining and aging agricultural workforce and persistently high prices for production materials.」

「Domestic agriculture remains in an unstable position. While interest in food security is increasing and smart farming is becoming more widespread, difficult operating conditions continue because of the aging agricultural workforce, a shortage of successors and soaring material and fertilizer prices. In addition, extreme weather, including high temperatures and torrential rain caused by climate change, is affecting crop growth and yields.」

「The operating environment remains challenging, with the aging of agricultural workers, a shortage of successors, and soaring material and fertilizer prices. In addition, abnormal weather, including high temperatures and torrential rain caused by climate change, has affected crop growth and yields, resulting in continued instability.」

「Domestic agriculture remains unstable, with numerous factors adversely affecting crop conditions, including high summer temperatures, localized torrential rain and outbreaks of pests. Although rice prices remain high, sales volumes are trending downward, raising concerns about future price declines.」

「Although retail rice prices have risen substantially, the difficult operating conditions facing domestic agriculture remain unchanged due to persistently high production-material and transportation costs and the impact of unstable crop conditions associated with global warming.」

「The difficult operating conditions facing domestic agriculture remain unchanged, as symbolized by dairy farms, where the number of farms has halved in less than 20 years and more than half are operating at a loss.」

「In addition to the longstanding issues facing domestic agriculture, including declining food consumption due to the declining birthrate and aging population and a shortage of successors to farming households, the destabilization of international conditions and the weak yen have dealt a major blow to domestic agriculture. As the costs of fertilizer, feed, agricultural materials and utilities have risen and remained elevated amid soaring resource and grain prices, prices for agricultural products such as fresh produce have failed to rise as expected, leaving farm management in an extremely difficult position.」

「In addition to the longstanding issues facing domestic agriculture, including declining food consumption due to the declining birthrate and aging population and a shortage of successors to farming households, numerous events affecting farm management have emerged, including higher costs due to soaring prices for imported feed and production inputs resulting from the weak yen, unstable crop yields associated with global warming and earlier harvest timing.」

「In addition to the longstanding issues facing domestic agriculture, including declining food consumption due to the declining birthrate and aging population and a shortage of successors to farming households, numerous unprecedented events have emerged, including higher costs due to soaring prices for imported feed and production inputs resulting from the weak yen, unstable crop yields caused by unfavorable weather and fluctuations in harvest timing.」

「In addition to the longstanding issues facing domestic agriculture, including declining food consumption due to the declining birthrate and aging population and a shortage of successors to farming households, higher costs due to surging prices for production inputs and the effects of lower crop quality and unstable yields caused by extreme heat are casting a shadow over farm management.」

「As resource and grain prices have soared, the prices of fertilizer, feed, agricultural materials and utilities have risen. The impact has been particularly severe in the livestock sector, which is highly dependent on imported production inputs, and farm management is becoming increasingly difficult, with many dairy farmers going out of business.」

「In addition to the longstanding issues facing domestic agriculture, including declining food consumption due to the declining birthrate and aging population and a shortage of successors to farming households, prices for fertilizer, feed and agricultural materials have risen with resource and grain prices, while prices for agricultural products have increased only slowly, continuing to put pressure on farm management.」

「In addition to the longstanding issues facing domestic agriculture, including declining food consumption due to the declining birthrate and aging population and a shortage of successors to farming households, higher prices for fertilizer, feed and agricultural materials resulting from soaring resource and grain prices continue to put pressure on farm management.」

「In addition to the longstanding issues facing domestic agriculture, including declining food consumption due to the declining birthrate and aging population and a shortage of successors to farming households, numerous events with a major impact on farm management emerged, including a sharp decline in agricultural-product demand from the foodservice industry due to COVID-19 and substantial increases in the prices of feed and fertilizer, much of which is imported, due to soaring import prices.」

「In addition to the longstanding issues facing domestic agriculture, including declining food consumption due to the declining birthrate and aging population and a shortage of successors to farming households, numerous events putting pressure on farm management have occurred, including unfavorable summer weather and lower fresh-produce prices, as well as concerns over the disposal of raw milk due to declining milk consumption amid the effects of COVID-19.」

「In addition to the longstanding issues facing domestic agriculture, including declining food consumption due to the declining birthrate and aging population and a shortage of successors to farming households, numerous negative factors emerged, including unfavorable summer weather and lower fresh-produce prices.」

「In addition to the longstanding issues facing domestic agriculture, including declining food consumption due to the declining birthrate and aging population and a shortage of successors to farming households, numerous factors destabilizing farm management have emerged, including concerns over poor crop yields due to high rainfall and insufficient sunshine, symbolized by the heavy rains in the Kyushu region.」

「The environment surrounding Japan's domestic agricultural sector is characterized by concerns that the population, which has already begun to decline, will decline even faster as a result of the deterioration in economic conditions caused by the COVID-19 pandemic. Meanwhile, the number of older people continues to increase, and these factors together are contributing to declining food demand.」

「In addition to the longstanding issues facing domestic agriculture, including declining food consumption due to the declining birthrate and aging population and a shortage of successors to farming households, numerous events with a major impact on farm management occurred, including a sharp decline in agricultural-product demand from the foodservice industry due to COVID-19, lower fresh-produce prices and the collapse of many agricultural facilities under heavy snowfall, particularly on the Sea of Japan side.」

「In addition to the longstanding issues facing domestic agriculture, including declining food consumption due to the declining birthrate and aging population and a shortage of successors to farming households, restrictions on entry from overseas during the COVID-19 pandemic caused labor shortages among some producers dependent on foreign workers. In addition, sluggish demand from the foodservice industry, together with a bumper harvest following favorable weather from early autumn, led to lower fresh-produce prices, making farm management increasingly difficult.」

「In addition to the longstanding issues facing domestic agriculture, including declining food consumption due to the declining birthrate and aging population and a shortage of successors to farming households, events with a major impact on farm management occurred frequently, including a sharp decline in agricultural-product demand from the foodservice industry due to COVID-19, poor crop yields caused by prolonged rainy weather and soaring vegetable prices.」

「In addition to the longstanding issues facing domestic agriculture, including declining food consumption due to the declining birthrate and aging population and a shortage of successors to farming households, early-summer sunshine shortages and major typhoons damaged crops. Although the mild winter increased the supply of fresh produce, lower numbers of visitors to Japan and reduced eating-out due to the COVID-19 pandemic reduced demand for foodservice and processing, resulting in lower fresh-produce prices due to effects on both supply and demand. In addition, the pandemic made it difficult for foreign workers to enter Japan, causing labor shortages, particularly at large farms, and putting pressure on farm management.」

「In addition to the longstanding issues facing domestic agriculture, including declining food consumption due to the declining birthrate and aging population and a shortage of successors to farming households, early-summer sunshine shortages and major typhoons damaged crops. Although the mild winter increased the supply of fresh produce, lower numbers of visitors to Japan and reduced eating-out caused by the COVID-19 pandemic reduced demand for foodservice and processing, resulting in lower fresh-produce prices due to effects on both supply and demand and putting pressure on farm management.」

「In addition to the longstanding issues facing domestic agriculture, including declining food consumption due to the declining birthrate and aging population and a shortage of successors to farming households, numerous factors destabilizing farm management emerged, including crop damage from insufficient sunshine in early summer and major typhoons, as well as an outbreak of swine cholera.」

「In addition to the longstanding issues facing domestic agriculture, including declining food consumption due to the declining birthrate and aging population and a shortage of successors to farming households, destabilizing factors for crop yields occurred frequently, with insufficient sunshine in the first half of this summer and extreme heat in the second half. More recently, typhoons caused extensive damage to agriculture, particularly in Chiba Prefecture, resulting in numerous negative factors.」

「In addition to the longstanding issues facing domestic agriculture, including declining food consumption due to the declining birthrate and aging population and a shortage of successors to farming households, conditions changed rapidly: extreme heat caused poor crop yields and typhoons damaged agricultural facilities in summer, while favorable weather and a mild winter from autumn onward accelerated vegetable growth, and increased shipment volumes led to lower prices for fresh produce.」

「In addition to the longstanding issues facing domestic agriculture, including declining food consumption due to the declining birthrate and aging population and a shortage of successors to farming households, conditions changed rapidly: extreme heat caused poor crop yields and typhoons damaged agricultural facilities in summer, while favorable weather and a mild winter from autumn onward accelerated vegetable growth, and increased shipment volumes led to lower prices for fresh produce.」

「In addition to the longstanding issues facing domestic agriculture, including declining food consumption due to the declining birthrate and aging population and a shortage of successors to farming households, conditions changed rapidly: extreme heat and typhoons caused poor crop yields in summer, while favorable weather from autumn onward accelerated vegetable growth, and increased shipment volumes led to lower prices for fresh produce.」

「In addition to the longstanding issues facing domestic agriculture, including declining food consumption due to the declining birthrate and aging population and a shortage of successors to farming households, there are numerous destabilizing factors, including poor crop yields caused by unfavorable weather such as the torrential rains of July 2018, frequent typhoons and extreme heat.」

「In Japan, the population began to decline in 2015. Together with the rising aging rate, this has led to continued declines in food consumption and has also contributed to sluggish demand in the home gardening sector. On the production side of agriculture, there are numerous issues, including the aging of agricultural operators and the need to reduce production costs.」

「In addition to the longstanding issues facing domestic agriculture, including declining food consumption due to the declining birthrate and aging population and a shortage of successors to farming households, various events that could negatively affect farm management have emerged, including poor crop yields caused by unfavorable weather and the TPP (Trans-Pacific Strategic Economic Partnership Agreement) concluded without the United States.」

「In addition to the longstanding issues facing domestic agriculture, including declining food consumption due to the declining birthrate and aging population and a shortage of successors to farming households, prolonged rain and typhoons have damaged crops, making farm management increasingly unstable.」

「In addition to the longstanding issues facing domestic agriculture, including declining food consumption due to the declining birthrate and aging population and a shortage of successors to farming households, concerns have arisen over poor crop yields caused by unfavorable summer weather.」

「While expectations are rising for future government measures aimed at building a strong domestic agricultural sector, there has been no major change in the longstanding issues facing domestic agriculture, including declining food consumption due to the declining birthrate and aging population and a shortage of successors to farming households.」

「In addition to the longstanding issues facing domestic agriculture, including declining food consumption due to the declining birthrate and aging population and a shortage of successors to farming households, uncertainty is increasing regarding the TPP (Trans-Pacific Partnership), which is expected to have a major impact on agriculture, as then-U.S. President-elect Donald Trump announced that the United States would withdraw.」

「In addition to the longstanding issues facing domestic agriculture, including declining food consumption due to the declining birthrate and aging population and a shortage of successors to farming households, agricultural production has been severely affected by heavy rainfall in Hokkaido and elsewhere, creating numerous pressures on farm management.」

「As agricultural workers age and the departure of older people from farming accelerates, farmland is being consolidated among operators and farms are expanding in scale. In addition, the number of incorporated agricultural operators is increasing, and the sector is undergoing major changes, including cost reductions through larger-scale operations, the sixth-sector industrialization of agriculture and increased exports of agricultural products.」