2021 Volume 13 Issue 2 Pages 12-25
Behind an international trend of high evaluation of peasants, there lies the growing recognition about necessity of transformation of industrial agro-food system since the 2010s. ‘Repeasantization and new peasantry’, an achievement of European peasant studies, aims at autonomy and survival for resisting deprivation and dependence of or to ‘the empire of food’. Agroecology also aims to shift a current agri-food system. However, understanding agroecology as a skill to compensate deficiencies of industrial agri-food system is getting generalized as agroecology expands. This fact can be called ‘the trap of institutionalization’. Such trap is observed in the process of losing an aspect of social movement and inclining to aspect of high economic value in Japanese organic farming. Despite the deepening of organic farming theory, intrinsic organic farming emphasizing circulation and diversity has been stagnant, while ’mono-culture’ organic farming has increased. Such depolarization poses which direction ought to be pursued for Japanese organic farming. Although most of intrinsic organic farmers are peasants, agricultural politicians and economist are neglecting peasants. Actually, Japanese peasants take many agroecological practices including organic farming. It is necessary to make peasants visible and suggest alternative path for development suitable for peasant farming.
