Japan's calorie-based food self-sufficiency ratio dropped to 37% in the fiscal year ending March 2025 — a record low and a full percentage point below the previous year — as falling rice consumption and rising private-sector stockpiles weighed on domestic output metrics, the Ministry of Agriculture, Forestry and Fisheries announced. The figure places Japan well short of its government-set target of 45% by 2030, and among the lowest of any developed economy; by comparison, Australia, Canada, France, and the United States each exceed 100%. Officials cite structural pressures including an ageing farming workforce, shrinking farmland, and a long-term dietary shift away from rice, and say the ministry plans to expand cultivation of heavily imported crops such as wheat and soybeans to close the gap.