2021 Volume 39 Issue 1 Pages 30-38
The accident of Fukushima Daiichi Nuclear Power Station economically damaged farms (in terms of fall in sales prices and decrease in number of sales), even those farms which were able to continue farming in the Fukushima prefecture. After reconsidering and altering their product prices and developing new supply chains, some could establish a relationship of trust with new customers. In our study, three farms were analyzed as representative of advanced farm management in a new business environment caused by a nuclear power plant disaster. Our study focused on an individual farm operator managing a peach and apple orchard (Farm A), an agricultural corporation cultivating rice for Japanese Sake production, whole crop silage (WCS) of rice straw (Farm B), and another corporation engaging in multi-productions such as horticulture, raring swine, and growing strawberries (Farm C). All of them had to change their production after the earthquake in order to convince customers to maintain their sustainable trade, regardless of harmful rumors which arose after the accident. Their activities were subsidized by government and private sector. We concluded that their management shifts were countermeasures against the accident. We mainly focused on a traditional family farm engaging in agricultural production and run by only family members. All of these farms were adapting to the new situation by accumulating and reorganizing farmland, expanding production scale with new technologies, and diversifying management in further processing, sales and services. Their relationships with customers were marked by continuity of trade, interaction, and social contexts.
