Abstract
During Japan's high economic growth period after the 1960s, the demand for gardening and landscaping increased in urban areas. As a result, some nursery production areas were newly established in several regions, in addition to traditional nursery areas, such as Angyo, Inazawa, Ikeda, and Takarazuka. The purpose of this paper is to consider one of the new nursery areas, Utsubegawa fan, Mie prefecture, by analyzing the marketing structure and farm management of nursery plants. Utsubegawa fan is located 50 km from the southwestern surburbs of Nagoya, central Japan (Fig. 1). The fan is well drained and covered with kuroboku soil, which is suitable for cultivation of nursery plants. Cultivation of nursery plants in the study area was started in Marigano village in the Meiji era by the immigrants from Inazawa, a traditional nursery area. Nursery plant production increased rapidly after World War II, especially during and after Japan's high economic growth period (Fig. 2), and then the production area expanded from Marigano village to surrounding villages. Furthemore, nursery plant production was increased mostly by the introduction of satsuki (Rhododendron indicum, sweet), a shrub for landscaping.
This study has reveales that there is a highly complicated marketing structure for nursery plants, with a variety of marketing channels (Fig. 3). For example, for satsuki, one of the most common channels from production areas to consumption areas is brokers in producing areas buying the plants from nursery farmers and selling them to brokers in the consumption areas. Brokers in consumption areas sell them to landscape gardeners who take the plants to planting areas. Thus, the brokers play an important role in marketing for collection and shipment of nursery plants. As most nursery plants are traded today in negotiated transactions between brokers rather than at open auctions in marketplaces, the brokers in the production areas are essential for the nursery marketing system. As a result of a survey on management style of brokers and famers in Marigano village (Fig. 6) and Fukamizo village (Fig. 7), the farmers were classified into four types : A to D (Tables 1 and 2).
Some results are summarized as follows:
1) The evidence of area development can be found in changes in individual farmers' management style. Farmers included in type D stemmed from those who used to grow other crops such as rice or tea, and then began to cultivate satsuki. Then, some farmers of type D have changed their management style over time to place greater emphasis on the cultivation of satsuki, reducing other crops.
This group is classified as type C. Some farmers of type C have, again, developed over time into type A farmers who produce various garden trees and plants in addition to satsuki, and to type B farmers who are combined with landscape gardeners. Finally, some of the farmers of types A and B have developed into brokers of nursery plant.
2) The study area has established a marketing system for collection and shipment of nursery plants after the emergence of these brokers. In other words, the development of the area facilitates the functional organization of production and marketing systems. In this way, the study area has turned into a major production area for nursery plants.
3) The study also revealed the spatial structure of functional organization in the study area, which consists of villages where a large number of nursery farmers are distributed centering around Marigano village, where there is a concentration of brokers. This spatial structure differs from the spatial structure for fruit and vegetables, which is a single integrated system with cooperative shipment. The spatial structure for nursery plants is a complicated system, in which the core area is formed at the village level.
