Increasing the Number of Local Eco-agricultural Products and Preserving Urban Agriculture through the Cooperation of Local Consumers and Farmers

Abstract

This paper analyzes the effective preservation of the urban agricultural market in Higashi-Osaka city. The following supports to farmers have been effective: (1) Designating local eco-agricultural products as specialty products by focusing on the farming method, and not on the items, (2) Conducting exhaustive explanatory meetings in the area to support applications for eco-agricultural specialty product designated authority, (3) Establishing original products standards according to the local characteristics, and (4) Visualizing premiums on the local products.

Furthermore, three categories of consumers have proved effective in promoting incentives on specialty production: (1) Regular consumers who understand the value of contributing through purchase of local products, thus leading to effective urban agriculture preservation; (2) Consumers who are positively vocal about their appreciation of producers’ labor; and (3) Consumers working voluntarily to support urban agriculture. The question as to how to involve the city residents as urban agricultural volunteer workers or as successors of urban agriculture remains an important issue for the future.