Farm structure and strategy in direct marketing channel by dairy farmers of saga prefecture, Japan

This paper describes the farm structure and strategy of dairy farmers who sell milk and milk products to the consumer directly. Among 86 dairy farms, only 3 farms are involved in direct marketing channel in Saga Prefecture. These 3 farms are selected for this research. Farmers are concerned about income from milk sales which has been decreased since 1990. Most of the dairy farmers are prisoners of market price. They could cut their costs, but stuck with the market price. They have no control over that price. Even though, very efficient farmers watch their potential profits drive off the farm with the milk truck. That’s why, these 3 farmers tried to develop farm structure and strategy to retain in the market.