抄録
Since Japanese consumers tend to choose high-quality apples, Japanese apple farmers need many unskilled workers (for harvesting fruit, removing bad-quality fruit, and removing leaves that block the sunlight) as well as workers with pruning skills. As a result, apple farming is based mainly on manual labor. In Japan, it is difficult for large-scale apple orchards to have higher productivity and profitability than middle- or small-scale orchards because large-scale orchards incur higher costs as they employ more workers. According to Toyoda Takashi’s studies in the 1980s, workers were in short supply in large-scale orchards ; consequently, yields in these orchards decreased. He called the apple orchards “Sohouka-daikeiei.”
However, nowadays, large-scale apple orchards show high productivity and profitability. “S” orchard in Hirosaki City, Aomori Prefecture, is one such orchard. However, “S” orchard once was a typical apple orchard with low productivity. What improvements did “S” orchard make? The aim of this study was to evaluate “S” orchard’s management so as to elucidate the reasons why “S” orchard has high productivity and profitability for its success. To achieve this aim, I analyzed two questionnaires completed in 1985 and 2011, financial statements, and work-hour data.
“S” orchard changed its management in the following manner. (1) “S” orchard hired middle-aged and young men who were not working at the orchard in 1985. (2) “S” orchard established a labor-saving farming system and simultaneously reduced the number of unskilled workers. (3) “S” orchard stopped selling apples to agriculture cooperatives and rural sellers and started selling directly to retailers and consumers.
“S” orchard attained the following advantages : (1) land productivity increased after several middleaged and young men were recruited as workers to control soil and apple-tree quality. (2) working hours per 10a were reduced. (3) Thus, labor productivity improved as a result of the above-mentioned changes. (4) New selling methods helped sell “S” orchard’s low-grade apples at higher than market prices. As a result, the average price of the apples sold by “S” orchard increased. (5) Profitability improved with increases in labor productivity and average prices.
“S” orchard’s management has become a model for the management of a large-scale apple orchard.
