"We never dreamed we'd overcome the wall around domestic growers, " says Tatsuo Horiuchi, representative director of Dole Japan and the only foreign company official advising the Ministry of Agriculture, Forestry and Fisheries on farm law revisions.

FORBES: Upsetting the apple cart

But, despite being no stranger to foot-and-mouth - he worked alongside the Ministry of Agriculture, Fisheries and Food during the 1967 outbreak - even he has been taken by surprise at the virulence of the latest outbreak.

BBC: Chief vet: Controlling a crisis

Thomlinson, who was working for the then Ministry of Agriculture, Fisheries and Food, found the work distressing.

BBC: Official fiddled slaughter expenses

The Environment Agency, the Ministry of Agriculture, Fisheries and Food and local authorities all have a part to play but the report said they should work more closely together.

BBC: Flood defences need 'urgent repairs'

Ministry of Agriculture, Fisheries and Food (Maff) officials now say the highly contagious virus may have been spreading from a pig farm at Heddon-on-the-Wall, in Northumberland, for more than two weeks.

BBC: You are in: UK

And even some within the deniers cabal the Nokyo, the group of special interest politicians, previously mainly LDP, but also Komeito and DPJ (the norinzoku), and interventionist bureaucrats in the Ministry of Agriculture, Forestry, and Fisheries (MAFF) are beginning to admit facts, if not to embrace the prospect of real reform.

FORBES: Reforming Japan's Socialized Agriculture

The Angolan Ministry of Agriculture, Rural Development and Fisheries purchased the slender multipurpose vessel.

FORBES: Angola Invests in Fight Against Illegal Fishing in Coastal Waters

Today I will outline the thinking of the Ministry of Agriculture, Forestry, and Fisheries (MAFF), for better or worse probably the key player in deciding future policy.

FORBES: Reforming Japan's Socialized Agriculture (2)