After December's landslide re-election, Prime Minister Shinzo Abe's program to revive the nation's economy is set to meet perhaps its stiffest challenge, the nation's sclerotic farming industry.

He will soon submit legislation to reform agriculture, a sector where a dwindling band of aging farmers works tiny plots, while conducting grueling negotiations to sign up for the Trans-Pacific Partnership, which would cut towering import tariffs that shield domestic farmers.

Standing in his way is Japan Agriculture (JA), a lobby group that controls most aspects of pricing and distribution through its network of about 700 farming cooperatives, and also supplies feed and machinery.