Japan has a farmland abandonment problem due to elderly farmers retiring and their children not wanting to become farmers. There are documentaries, news articles, and even segments on prime time TV shows chronicling some of these families trying to bring in an "adopted son" from cities. Such a personal commitment, naturally, is a detriment for many.　Here is some demographic data published in a general public facing article by the Ministry of Agriculture [1]

Corporate ownership allows for legal structures and arrangements that introduces flexibility into this traditionally all-or-nothing arrangement. [2]

Also, corporate ownership structures allow farm operators to pool the risk and capital requirements of a larger scale operation. Business loans that limit personal liability in the event of insolvency is greatly preferable to personal loans when undertaking expansion and improvement towards the preexisting operation.

I'd appreciate it if you could explain to me how corporate ownership of farmland by virtue of corporate ownership alone would reduce land productivity, as you have asserted. While I certainly agree that factory farming methods have created problems with antibacterial and hormonal health, greenhouse gas production, etc., I have a difficultly seeing how such abusive practices would decrease land productivity, separate from the other problems they cause.

[1] http://www.maff.go.jp/j/pr/aff/1207/spe1_02.html

[2] "Creating Jobs Through the Specified Corporation Lease Program" http://www.tokyofoundation.org/en/articles/2008/let-corporat...

> OK, pass a law stating certain areas of farmland cannot be converted to any other use.

Japan already has such laws. They simply circumvent them and build more and more seven-elevens on agricultural land.

How is corporate ownership going to solve that problem? If anything I think it'd worsen it because a large corporate holder is going to be far more adept at skirting the regulations.

I haven't advocated corporate ownership, however what hkmurakami describes is an extremely accurate picture of the rural Japanese situation.