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Food and Agricultural Market Studies Lab
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A lab that explores the markets and distribution of food and agricultural products from farm to table.
AboutAbout the lab
Reading markets and distribution, from farm to table.
The Food and Agricultural Market Studies Lab studies the structure of markets and distribution for agricultural products and food.
Established in 1964 as the Chair of Agricultural Market Theory, the lab has examined the structure of the markets surrounding agriculture, including agricultural product markets and agricultural input markets.
The lab studies topics such as the restructuring of distribution centered on supermarkets and convenience stores, and local production for local consumption in school lunches.
The lab holds a lab seminar for undergraduate students and a weekly research meeting (the Market Symposium), and the lab seminar also includes rural field survey training.
Key terms
- Internal quality standard
- A standard that sorts agricultural products not by appearance, such as size or shape, but by internal quality, such as sugar content
- GAP
- Good Agricultural Practices. A system for checking and recording farming processes in order to protect food safety and the environment
- Local production for local consumption (chisan-chisho)
- Consuming agricultural products and food produced in a region within that same region
NewsLab news
A master's student received the Special Judges' Award at the Doctoral Session of the National Conference of the Japan Society of Distributionology
A master's student received the Merit Award in the Zen-Noh Student "Dairy Dream" Contest held by JA Zen-Noh
ResearchResearch themes
The lab studies the structure of the markets surrounding agriculture, such as agricultural product markets and agricultural input markets, as well as the methods and conditions of agricultural marketing. It analyzes changes in the markets for agriculture and food, including the expansion of retail companies, the spread of new standards, and the securing of labor.
*Illustrative imageRetail-led restructuring of distribution
Starting from the chain expansion of supermarkets and convenience stores, the lab clarifies how the distribution of food and agricultural products is being reorganized around large retail companies.
*Illustrative imageStandardization of agricultural products today
The lab considers the present-day significance of internal standards based on qualities such as sugar content measured non-destructively with sensors, and of newly spreading standardization such as GAP.
*Illustrative imageSystems for gathering agricultural workers
While farm expansion and consolidation require more workers, the sources of labor supply are shrinking. The lab analyzes new ways of securing labor, including dispatch workers, and a regional system that coordinates labor for summer farm work in combination with winter snow removal work.
*Illustrative imageSchool lunches and local production for local consumption
For school lunches, where local production for local consumption is increasingly being introduced, the lab extends its analysis beyond fresh ingredients to processed foods and clarifies how far this has progressed.
MembersFaculty
The members of the Food and Agricultural Market Studies Lab are faculty members and doctoral and master's students.As of 2026
- ProfessorHiroshi Sakazume
- Associate ProfessorYoshiharu Shimizuike
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Report an errorAbout the images
The top and research theme images are illustrative and were not taken at the lab. They are cropped from Wikimedia Commons images. Cropped CC BY-SA images are provided under the same CC BY-SA license as the original (version shown on each line).
- Top image: “Red house and tractor - panoramio” pakku / CC BY 3.0 (cropped)
- Retail-led restructuring of distribution: “The produce area inside an Ingles supermarket in Murphy, N.C” Harrison Keely / CC BY 4.0 (cropped)
- Standardization of agricultural products today: “Shonan Gold citrus sorting facility” 大導寺 / CC BY-SA 3.0 (cropped)
- Systems for gathering agricultural workers: “Nagaimo field” Fk / CC BY-SA 3.0 (cropped)
- School lunches and local production for local consumption: “Japanese school lunch in the Showa period” Project Kei / CC BY-SA 4.0 (cropped)
- Related lab (地域連携経済学研究室): “Honbetsu north” Opqr / CC BY-SA 4.0 (cropped)
- Related lab (農資源経済学研究室): “A sea of ripe wheat - geograph.org.uk - 905835” Zorba the Geek / CC BY-SA 2.0 (cropped)
- Related lab
(開発経済学研究室): “Paddy field in Nepal 2013” Sharada Prasad CS / CC BY 2.0 (cropped) - Related lab (農業経営学研究室): “Panoramic Shimizu” Hokkaido-man / CC BY-SA 3.0 (cropped)
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