Updated as of October 2005

Most Staples Heavily Import Dependent.

The total value of Japan's agricultural production was 8,926 billion yen in 2002, slightly up by 0.5 percent from 8,881 billion yen in 2001 but down by 22.3 percent from 1990. Production has decreased on an ongoing basis in recent decades. Of the 2002 total, the rice crop amounted to 2,177 billion yen or 24.4 percent, with livestock production of 2,498 billion yen or 28 percent, and vegetable production at 2,193 billion yen or 24.6 percent of the total. Rice production maintained the largest share until 1996, when it began to fall behind livestock.

As of February 1, 2003, total households engaged in agriculture numbered 2.2 million, a 12 percent decline over the previous five years. Of 2.2 million, only 443,000 farm households were engaged exclusively in agriculture, with the remainder engaging in other work as well. The numbers of both full- and part-time farm households have continued to decline for quite some time.

The total acreage of active farmland in 2003 was 4.74 million hectares, of which rice paddies accounted for 54.6 percent or 2.59 million hectares. The amount of active farmland has also been in decline. Due to limited flatlands, Japan's per capita farm area is the smallest in the world. Only 200,000-plus farmers, or less than 8 percent of the agricultural households that receive income from their products, were operating on farms larger than three hectares as of 1994.

Because of these constraints on domestic agricultural production and supply, and also due to changing lifestyles and the increased affluence of the Japanese population, Japan's dependence on agricultural imports has been sharply on the rise.

For example, Japan depends on imports for 73 percent for grains, 56 percent for fruit, about 47 percent for meat and 31 percent for milk products as of 2002, and the rate of dependency is increasing, making Japan a high potential market for foreign agricultural products. Import restrictions, formerly high, have been substantially relaxed.

Japan relies on imported beef to supply about two-thirds of its beef consumption, importing a record 720,000 metric tons of beef in 2000. Weak consumer demand, due primarily to slow economic recovery, caused beef imports to drop 675,000 tons in 2001. Sparked by concerns about mad cow disease (BSE - Bovine Spongiform Encephalopathy), beef consumption has fallen further. By 2003, 15 BSE-infected cows had been found in Japan and one BSE infected cow was found in the U.S. Since then, the Japanese Government has instituted a very stringent testing system, subjecting beef cows to “all head inspection” and banned U.S. beef imports which could not adopt “all head inspection.” The U.S. Department of Agriculture is urging Japan to reopen the market, and the Japanese government has been trying to find an agreeable method of quarantine clearance, but jurisdiction for proving the safety of beef has been given to an independent safety committee composing of experts of animal and food safety, and approval has just been granted. However, under strict conditions that imported beef must meet the conditions set, importing U.S. beef will begin gradually for limited lots. This is bad for the Japanese consumers who have been longing for the full import of American beef to resume.