Abstract
This study analyzes the characteristics of present agriculture and prospects the possibility of sustainability of the agricultural activities in the near future. The study area is the Isawa alluvial fan in Iwate Prefecture. First of all, 214 rural villages in the Isawa alluvial fan were classified into three types by applying the multivariate analysis to the 1995 agricultural census data. The types are a sustaining agriculture type, a stagnant agriculture type, and a declining agriculture type. Based on the field works in three sample villages, farmers in the sustaining agricultural type village have a relatively strong will to continue farming and they organize an agricultural production organization to keep farming by themselves. In the declining agriculture type, farmers will gradually transfer their agricultural activities to some full-time farmers in the neighboring villages and will retire from farming. In the stagnant agriculture type village, a few viable farmers keep farming as full-time farmers, while many others will retire from farming.
