Abstract
1) Fruit growing regions in the Tohoku District are the largest area in Japan, which grow apples and other decidous tree fruits. Fruit regions concentrate in 7 inland basins: Tsugaru Plain, Yamagata and Fukushima Basin etc. These places are suitable for fruit growing.
In view of this, they are in striking contrast to citrus fruits regions, which concentrate in the coast districts. Since 1960, increased yield of orange and trade liberalization of banana had great impact on the farming of fruit tree. The remedial measure for depressoon are different in each region.
2) Tsugaru Plain which has been an apple producing region since the Meiji era, and now the largest one in scale, has increased its production in spite of falling demand for apples. By the clearance of forests and the reconversion from rice fields, the villagers in the Tsugaru Plain have increased apple orchards. By the improvement of varieties, they have made their apple cultivation intensive. As the result of the increased production of new varieties, the fruit dealers have strengthen their influence on the process of circulation. Recently, the cultivation of grapes has increased here, but has not developed into the diversified fruit farming.
3) In Yamagata Basin and Fukushima Basin, the diverse management, that grows apple or Japanese pear as the staple plant, and grape, peach, or cherry as the subsidiary plant, has developed. When the fruit growers met with an apple depression, they increased the yield of the grape and peach, which have taken the place of the apple as a staple product in some regions.
Such multimanagement of fruit growers has been realized by the factors of physical condition that helps the growth of every decidous tree fruit, of existence of processed fruitindustry, of management's consciousness of farmer to seek the profitable fruits.
The fruits cultivation, in the north-Eastern part of Yonezawa Basin, are going to change into monoculture of grape, from the diverse management, making full use of steep slope of newly cultivated orchards.
4) Fruit management in Yokote Basin and Kitakami Basin are not so much favored with physical and managerial conditions as the other fruit regions, fruit yield in those regions does not make remarkable increase.
