ABSTRACT
The two major expense items in beef production are the animal and feed. Because only 13 percent of Japan's land area is arable, expansion of beef production, along with pork, poultry and dairy products, has required continual growth in imports of feedstuffs. As of 1960 about 10.4 million tons of nonpasture feeds were utilized, and Japan was 63 percent self-sufficient in them (Table 4.1). But, by 1975 total utilization had doubled, and the ratio was down to 34 percent. The downward trend in self-sufficiency about leveled off by 1977 with the ratio at about 30 percent and imported nonpasture feed material at 15 million tons. An even more dramatic change has taken place in feed grain use.
