Rural Community and Farmland Fluidization in Hokkaido Tokachi Region

The Case of Otofuke Town at Central Tokachi

Abstract

In Tokachi region in Hokkaido, farmland management scale is expanding due to the increasing frequency of farmland abandonment, and agriculture based on farmland consolidation is advancing. The management scale per farming household has now reached 30 ha.
Given the above circumstances, the purpose of this study was to clarify the features of farmland fluidization at the village level in Tokachi region. The study subjects were two villages in Otofuke Town: M village, where medium-scale management predominates（approx. 30 ha/household）， and K village, where large-scale management predominates （approx. 50 ha/household）．
Because there is an increasing frequency of farmland abandonment, the adjustment of farmland fluidization by village function is performed, and priority is placed on neighboring farmers and small-scale farmers. On one hand, in M village, the enlargement of management scale is given priority because the average management area of constituent farmers is small. Therefore, farmers can acquire rights to subdivided farmland. On the other hand, in K village, because the average management area of constituent farmers is large, relatively small-scale farmers are given priority in farmland acquisition while taking farmland consolidation into consideration. This way, farmland adjustment by village is performed according to the conditions of each village with the aim of promoting coexistence among constituent farmers.
In such regions, farmland adjustment is taking place, and large-scale agriculture based on farmland consolidation is expected in the future.