Agricultural finance - nougyoukinyuu

Originally, it meant the lending and borrowing of funds or the transfer of credit for agricultural production, but this is the narrow definition. In a broader sense, it includes financing for the sale and distribution of agricultural products, the daily life of farmers, and farm savings and their management, as well as other multifaceted lending and borrowing of funds related to agriculture and farmers.

The characteristics of agricultural finance in the narrow sense depend on the industrial characteristics of agricultural production, that is, its technical characteristics, commodity and market economic characteristics, and economic agent characteristics. Agricultural production is an industry that utilizes the vitality of plants and animals such as crops and livestock, and is characterized by organic technology and is easily influenced by natural conditions and seasonality. For this reason, production is more unstable than in industry, the production period is relatively long, and it is difficult to divide the production process to produce multiple products simultaneously, making it difficult to establish a continuous production system. On the other hand, in capitalist economic societies, the economic agents responsible for agricultural production are generally numerous farmers, who are characterized by family farming. For this reason, the agricultural product market has a competitive structure, and agricultural product prices are generally unstable because they are highly elastic. At the same time, the scale of management is small, so profitability is low and capital formation capacity is poor. Regulated by these characteristics of agricultural production, agricultural finance generally has the following characteristics.

The types of agricultural funds by purpose include funds for purchasing farmland, funds for improving farmland, funds for introducing agricultural machinery and facilities, funds for agricultural management, funds for selling agricultural products, etc. Looking at the common characteristics shared by these funds from the perspective of capital demand, first,
(1) Capital turnover is slow and tends to be long-term.
(2) Short-term funds are seasonal.
(3) Because of the small scale of business and low profits, there is a strong demand for low interest rates.
(4) Because farm management and household finances are inseparably linked, agricultural funds can easily take on the characteristics of consumer living funds.
Next, from the perspective of the supply of funds,
(5) The financial unit is very small;
(6) There is a high risk of the loaned funds being recouped;
(7) Credit guarantees are mainly provided by guarantors or through land collateral.
Due to this characteristic, the cost of supplying funds tends to be high from a financial technology perspective.

These characteristics of agricultural finance are said to be those of "small-scale farm finance." And because of these characteristics, agricultural finance is difficult to incorporate into modern financial bases, and it requires its own financial system. In Japan, financial institutions unique to agricultural finance have been gradually developed since before the Second World War and have undergone historical changes. Currently, agricultural finance is supported by two major pillars: agricultural cooperative (agricultural co-operative) system finance, which is based on mutual financing between farmers and local residents, and the Japan Finance Corporation (Agriculture, Forestry and Fisheries Business, which inherited the business of the former Agriculture, Forestry and Fisheries Finance Corporation), which is a system finance funded by the government's fiscal investment and loan. The former has formed a pyramidal three-tiered system of financial organizations, with the credit business departments of general agricultural cooperatives at the municipal level, the Shinkin Agricultural Cooperative Federations at the prefectural level, and the Norinchukin Bank at the national level, and is mainly responsible for short- and medium-term loan operations and also operates savings operations, becoming one of Japan's leading rural financial institutions today. The latter is a government-affiliated financial institution with a nationwide branch network, which is mainly responsible for long-term loan operations and promotes policy-based finance.

In addition, agricultural credit guarantee insurance organizations include Agricultural Credit Fund Associations in each prefecture and Agriculture, Forestry and Fisheries Credit Funds across the country. In addition, the National Agricultural Cooperative Guarantee Center has been established to support agricultural financing.

However, since the 2000s, there has been a trend towards merging agricultural cooperatives and restructuring of their organizational systems, and in parallel with this, the organizational structure of agricultural cooperative finance has also changed. In addition, the Agriculture, Forestry and Fisheries Finance Corporation, which was established in 1953 (Showa 28) to provide long-term, low-interest financing to agricultural, forestry and fishery producers, was taken over by the Japan Finance Corporation, which was established in October 2008 (Heisei 20) through a merger with other government financial institutions, as part of the reform of the Fiscal Investment and Loan Agency and the Japan Finance Corporation.

[Kameya Akira]

"Agricultural Finance Theory" by Yuzuru Kato (1983, Meibunshobo) "Basic Issues of Investment, Finance, and Banking in Agriculture" by Akira Kameya (2002, Youkendo)

Source: Shogakukan Encyclopedia Nipponica About Encyclopedia Nipponica Information | Legend

本来的には、農業生産を対象とした資金の貸借ないし信用の授受をいうが、これは狭義の意味である。広義には、農産物の販売・流通面、農家生活面をも対象とした金融、また農家貯蓄とその運用など、農業・農家をめぐる多面的な資金貸借を含む。

　狭義の農業金融の特質は、農業生産の産業的特質、つまり、その技術的特質、商品的・市場経済的特質および経済主体的特質に依存している。農業生産は作物、家畜など動植物の生命力を利用する産業であり、有機的技術を特色とし、自然条件や季節性に支配されやすい面をもつ。このため工業に比べ生産の不安定度が高く、かつ生産期間が相対的に長く、また、生産行程の分割による生産の同時並行化が困難であるため連続生産体制をとりにくい。他方、農業生産を担う経済主体は、資本主義的経済社会では一般的に多数の農家であり、それは家族農業経営であることを特色としている。そのため、農業生産物市場は競争的構造をもち、かつ、農産物価格は一般的に伸縮性が大きいので不安定である。同時に、経営規模が零細であるため収益力が小さく、資本形成力にも乏しい。このような農業生産の特質に規制され、農業金融は一般的に次のような特質をもっている。

　農業資金の用途別種類は、農地購入資金、農地改良資金、農業機械・施設導入資金、農業経営運転資金、農産物販売資金などから構成される。これら資金を通ずる共通的性格を、まず資金需要側からみると、
(1)資本の回転が遅く長期性を帯びやすい、
(2)短期的資金については季節性をもつ、
(3)経営規模が零細かつ低収益のため低金利の要求が強い、
(4)農家経済の経営と家計の不離一体性のため農業資金といえど消費生活資金の色彩を帯びやすい、
などがあげられる。次に資金供給側からみると、
(5)資金単位が零細である、
(6)貸出資金回収の危険性が大きい、
(7)信用保証は保証人ないし土地担保が中心である、
などがあげられる。この特質のため金融技術的にみて資金供給コストは高くなりがちである。

　このような農業金融の特質は、いわゆる「小農金融」の特性といわれるものである。そして、この特性ゆえに農業金融は近代的な金融ベースにのりにくく、それ独自の金融システムを必要とすることになる。日本では第二次世界大戦前から農業金融独自の金融機関が徐々に発達し、かつ、歴史的に変遷を遂げてきているが、現在は、農家と地域住民の相互金融をたてまえとする農業協同組合（農協）系統金融と、政府の財政投融資による制度金融である日本政策金融公庫（農林水産事業。旧、農林漁業金融公庫の事業を継承）が二大支柱をなしている。前者は、全国各市町村段階に総合農協の信用事業部門、都道府県段階に信用農協連合会、全国段階に農林中央金庫を擁するピラミッド・三段階型の系統金融組織を形成し、主として短・中期資金の貸付業務を担当し、貯金業務も行い、今日、日本有数の農村金融機関となっている。後者は、全国に支店網をもつ政府系金融機関で、主として長期資金の貸付業務を担当し、かつ政策金融を推進している。

　なお、農業信用保証保険事業を行う機関として都道府県に農業信用基金協会、全国に農林漁業信用基金が設けられており、また別に、全国農協保証センターが設立され、農業金融を支援している。

　ただし2000年代以降、総合農協の合併や系統組織再編が進行し、これと併行して農協系統金融の組織形態も転換している。また、1953年（昭和28）に設立し農林水産業者等に長期・低利の資金の供給を行っていた農林漁業金融公庫が、2008年（平成20）10月にその他の政府金融機関と統合し設立された日本政策金融公庫に事業承継されたのは、財政投融資機関・金融公庫の改革の一環である。

［亀谷　昰］

『加藤譲著『農業金融論』（1983・明文書房）』▽『亀谷昰著『農業における投資・財政・金融の基本問題』（2002・養賢堂）』

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