農林業にとって地域とは何か

「場の農学」序説

抄録

The purpose of my paper is to make clear the meaning of the region today for agriculture and forestry.
(1) The Japanese small family farming has been modernized with chemicallization (the much use of chemical fertilizrs and insecticides), mechanization and the promotion of monoculture. Such modernization of agriculture has brought up various problems…excessive investment, a low rate of land use, the destruction of organic farming system and so on. These problems are expected to be solved through the regional co-operative use of machinery, the formation of regional organization, the regional multiple farming, and the reorganization and combination of production and marketing system.
(2) The economic and cultural concentration in big cities has weakened the infrastructure in rura region. Young people were disappointed on the actual conditions of rural region, then left home and went to big cities. We need to transform such region into comfortable life space.
(3) The development of agriculture has often led to the production of unsafe food and to environmental pollution. In order to avoid this it is necessary to urge co-operation among regions, to integrate consumers and producers, and to conserve and make efficient use of energy and resourses in each region.
In three aspects…economy, life and ecology…the regional point of view is becoming more and more important. The aim of modern agricultural study is to coordinare these three problems and to pursue and maximize values, that are economic value, life value and ecological value. Achieving this will lead to the formation of the “Hopeful Space” for our human life.