食・農・コミュニティの関係性から新規就農の問題を考える

—— 山梨県甲州市・北杜市の調査から ——

抄録

　　　Japanese farmers have exited from agriculture, putting at risk food security, generational renewal, and the continuity of kin-based communities. Yamanashi Prefecture since 2005, however, has seen small but steady flows of people interested in farming and alternative lifestyles in the countryside. This paper examines this subtle but important change. Based on the questionnaire surveys of 84 new farmers and 22 indepth interviews of new farmers and supporting organizations in Koshu and Hokuto cities, Yamanashi, it thoroughly analyzes who these new farmers are, how they started their farming, what challenges they are facing, and how they are coping with these challenges. The research identified three main challenges new farmers face; access to farmland and housing, farming knowledge and skills, and gaps between expectations and realities about farming. First, to find farmland, new farmers use a variety of private and public resources including families and government farmland and housing banks. New farmers found it more difficult to rent houses than farmland as house owners do not want to sell their houses even if their houses are no longer used. Second, new farmers recognize the need of acquiring farming knowledge and skills to continue farming in the long term. Third, new farmers are concerned about the gap between their original aspirations and actual conditions of their lifestyles. We argue that the challenges of new farmers stem from the gap between their aspirations for lifestyles and the blueprint of future agriculture designed in policy. Policy to maintain agriculture and rural communities needs to address this issue in the entwined relationship between food, agriculture, and community.