2000 Volume 109 Issue 3 Pages 383-400
Japan is one of the leading flower producers, with chrysanthemums being typical flowers. Although the plastic green house sector has been developed in Japanese floriculture since the 1970's, a considerable amount of chrysanthemums is still cultivated in open fields. Tomobe town, located in Hitachi diluvial upland, is known as an active chrysanthemum producing area in Kanto Plain. In this research, the author pays attention to the production and distribution basis of floricultural farms to examine the maintain mechanism of chrysanthe mum cultivation in Tomobe town, Ibaraki prefecture.
Open field chrysanthemum cultivation at Tomobe town was started by a veteran returning in 1946. Because the major crop cultivation system on the upland fields at the time was a double cropping system of wheat and potato, only a few farms were interested in floriculture. When chrysanthemums were sold at high prices in the flower wholesale market in Mito city, chrysanthemum cultivation began to spread among farms in the Namusanzuke district of Tomobe town.
The number of chrysanthemum farms in Tomobe increased from the 1950's to the mid-1960's. Chrysanthemums were shipped to flower wholesale markets in Tokyo metropolis and Tochigi prefecture in the early 1950's. After three shipment cooperatives were founded in the mid-1950's, chrysanthemums were also shipped to local flower wholesale markets in distant regions, such as Kanagawa prefecture and Miyagi prefecture. Although the three cooperatives were united as a branch of Agricultural Cooperatives in 1972, the relationship between farms and wholesale markets still restricts distribution by floricultural farm.
Floricultural farms in Namusanzuke district are divided into two types, on bases of total sales revenue from cut flowers: six full-time floricultural farms and 15 part-time floricultural farms. The farm management of the former farms is characterized by two generations of agricultural family labor with chrysanthemum cultivation in open fields and cut flower cultivation in plastic greenhouse facilities. The farm management of the latter farms is characterized by one generation of agricultural family labor and chrysanthemum cultivationin open fields. The aging of family labor and lack of successors is hindering cut flower cultivation in some of the later farms.
The former farms sell a large amount of products through cooperative shipments of Central Ibaraki Agricultural Cooperative. The latter farms sell products largely through individual shipments of the Agricultural Cooperative. Cooperative shipments forward cut flowers mainly to large flower wholesale markets in Tokyo metropolis and Kanagawa prefecture. Individual shipments forward cut flowers mainly to various local flower wholesale markets in eastern Japan through distribution centers in Tokyo metropolis.
The cut flower's production-distribution mechanism is suitable for the structure of flower wholesale markets of Japan, e. g., several enormous wholesale markets in the metropolitan area and many small wholesale markets in local cities. The individual distribution system for local wholesale markets is an important factor for maintaining the chrysanthemum production, especially by part-time floricultural farms. However, unified flower wholesale markets in Tokyo and large-scale wholesale markets, which request high-quality flowers through cooperative shipments, are to be constructed. The regional organizations, such as the flower section of Central Ibaraki Agricultural Cooperative and the municipality of Tomobe town, should endeavor to introduce producers to new cultivation techniques for producing high-quality flowers that can pass the standard for cooperative shipment.
