Abstract
The purpose of this paper is to evaluate the recreational value of Nishigami Farm Management Co-operation's pickup farm in Hokkaido, Shikaoi-town. We use zonal travel cost method to evaluate the value of this farm. The travel cost method is used to estimate a demand curve and its consumer's surplus.
About 15, 000 people visit the pick-up farm annually for recreation. They visit not only for picking up strawberries but also for enjoying rural amenities and agricultural landscapes. Most of the people visit the pick-up farm by their car. It is easy to estimate their travel cost. Therefore, we think that this site is appropriate for applying the travel cost method.
The data results from a questionnaire survey that was interviewed in from July to September 1993 to visitors at the pick-up farm. Consequently, we collected the data of 208 visitor groups from these on-site surveys. For evaluating the recreational value of the pick-up farm, we estimated the frequency of visit functions by ordinary least squares (OLS). These functions are used for estimating demand curves. Finally, we obtain the consumer's surplus by integrating demand curves.
As the result of applying the travel cost method to the recreational value of the pick-up farm, we obtain three conclusions which are summarized as follows.
1. The recreational value of this pick-up farm is estimated at about from ten million to thirty million yen. And this amount is equivalent to the farm's annual turnover from the entrance fee.
2. Visitors recognize that the farm provides the rural amenities such as “enjoying natural environment to the full” or “actually, we are able to experience agriculture”.
3. The travel cost method is very useful for evaluating the multifaceted function of agriculture and farming villages by selecting appropriate cases.
