2020 Volume 26 Issue 4 Pages 239-241
The purpose of this paper is to examine the current challenges faced by the agricultural system in Tohoku from the perspective of Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs). In particular, an overhaul in farming methods in Sendai City, which was heavily damaged in the Great East Japan Earthquake of 2011, has demonstrated ways to combat weakening of the agricultural production base. In response to the sudden decrease in the number of farmers in flatlands, agriculture has been shifted to a corporate management system. This has been carried out with the support of JA (Japan Agricultural Cooperatives) through expansion of management bodies and combination of cultivated items; and has benefitted extensively from the 6th industrialization in Japan. In mountainous areas, which represent the other extreme in farming, a consumer cooperative supports agriculture in affected areas. Taken together, the local food network supports sustainable production in both flatlands and mountains and enables a stable supply of agricultural produce in a dramatically changing consumption niche.
