有機農業と現代の小農・家族農業の関係を問う：論点提示と研究課題

抄録

This paper aims to present the results of the social science workshop, “The Relationship between Organic Farming and Contemporary Peasant and Family Farming,” which was held online by the Japanese Society of Organic Agriculture Science on October 18, 2020. In addition, this paper aims to expand new research areas or topics through the results of the workshop. The workshop consisted of two parts: two lectures in the morning and a small session in the afternoon. The lecturers were Ikegami Koichi, a rural economist, and Tokuno Sadao, a rural sociologist. The discussants were Aikawa Yoich, a rural sociologist, Ito Ryoji, a rural economist, and Sekine Kae, a rural economist.

I was a coordinator, and the lecturers, discussants, and other participants discussed some issues and propositions.

The workshop focused on four issues: the reason why contemporary peasant and family farming is now reevaluated, the relationship between contemporary peasant and family farming and organic farming, what is required to maintain local farming and local community, and what should be done to promote the reevaluation of contemporary peasant and family farming in Japan. Discussions on the four issues led to twenty-five propositions.

Finally, I pointed out two important things. First, issues and propositions presented from a global perspective precisely overlapped with those presented from a local perspective. This meant that farmers’ practices are universal across the world. Second, it is important to continue empirical research from the perspective of local people while keeping a distance from the discourse of a sustainable coexistence between people and nature.