Satisfaction with Participation in and Management of Volunteer Tasks in Urban Farms

Abstract

This study examines volunteers’ satisfaction with farm-support volunteer activities and farms’ managerial attitudes in urban farms. We conducted principal component analysis to determine volunteers’ satisfaction; we also performed correlation and principal component analysis of volunteer attributes and mean comparisons of the data collected through a questionnaire survey administered to the volunteers on three farms in Tokyo. Results revealed that communication with farm employees and interpersonal relationships among farm employees particularly contribute to the overall satisfaction of volunteers. Satisfaction tendencies are also related to farms’ management of volunteer activities and the sociability of volunteers. Upon comparing these satisfaction tendencies and farms’ attributes, it was found that matching volunteers’ satisfaction tendencies and farms’ managerial attitudes; for example, doing volunteer tasks and taking rests with volunteers, or explaining purposes of volunteer tasks and sharing information about crops actively, is important to make farm-support volunteers more active.