Management of Relationships in Farming from Economic and Ruling Points of View on Restricted Rural “Socialized” Trading

Abstract

Agricultural businesses in Japan are restricted by “socialized”—that means out of a sense of obligation—trading based on rural relationships. Such trading involves farmers being limited in the choice of what to purchase and how to produce, in order to retain their producing and living areas. In contrast, such socialized trading possibly increases farmers’ incomes in the long-term. This study aims to define the types of purchasing processes currently used in socialized trading in the agricultural industry. Previous research has been analyzed and interviews of two types of young farmers in total of about twenty were conducted. It was found that young farmers are selected by the suppliers of productive materials severely. Thus, farmers’ purchasing processes were categorized into eight types, and the farmers tended to choose one of the type according to their growth phase for their business.