水田農業構造再編と集落営農

地域的多様性に注目して

抄録

　The aim of this study is to examine the regional differences in the development of community farming systems reflecting their agricultural structures and the common development process of group farming based on community.
　Group farming based on community has been spontaneously established for maintaining agricultural settlement by means of preserving farmland in the region where there are few viable farmers. Even if the community-farming groups were to become corporations, they could not be called "farm management bodies" that secure extensive agricultural workers who can receive an income equivalent to the wages of the same workers in other industries. Group farming based on community is not suited to the region where there are not a few viable farmers. At first Agricultural Structure Policy supposed that Special Farming Corporations which were evolved from community farming systems would develop in regions such as hilly and mountainous depopulated areas or part-time farmers' dominant areas.
　On the other hand, community farming systems have also been established, the purpose of which was to accomplish Rice Production Adjustment through cultivating wheat and soybeans in paddy fields. The character of this group farming was different from that based on community. But the cultivation of wheat and soybeans in paddy fields has been concentrated in both types of group farming and the restructuring of paddy field farming has been achieved as a whole in Japan.
　The Farm Management Stability Policy (2007) has changed the state in the region where family farming is still viable. Group farming based on community has been rapidly and reluctantly established to receive subsidies from the government and to maintain Rice Production Adjustment. Because the size of the group farming is generally large in such a region, its farming efficiency is usually higher than in less favoured areas. The hastily prepared community farming system has no substance for the time being; it does have the possibility to grow into a viable farm management body. Spontaneously established group farming based on community has confronted the difficulty of balancing the budget because of its small scale of farming.
　The development direction of group farming has two pillars; one is diversified business operations to make profits and the other is merger or combination of group farming to reduce the cost of production. The former will also be able to cause revitalization and create employment for elderly people and women in the community. Group farming has been supported by the community and the two cannot be separated from each other. The community-farming system has two inseparable sides; one is economic activities to earn income and the other is revitalization movements to enhance community. Both are closely connected with each other.