Abstract
Milk-marketing system and the price system of milk to be paid to farmers largely varies from district to district within the country. Generally speaking, milk price is affected by the basic factors such as supply-demand ratio and distance from producing areas to markets, and at the milk producing areas remote far from large milkshed, relatively low milk price realizes unfavourably for the dairy farmers. The author analysed the regional characters of the dairy farming under these conditions in Tokachi Plains. The farmers in Tokachi Plains sell a much of milk for processing to dairy products such as butter and cheese.
Tokachi Plains is divided into two milk-producing regions. That is, in marginal areas of Tokachi Plains, physical conditions such as climate and soils are very unfavourable for the agriculture. Therefore, many farmers keep milch cows with relatively larger scale, and the foundation of farm economy is laid on milk cows keeping and beans and sugar beet culture, because the milk production is durable for cold damage with constant farm income. In contrast with the marginal areas in the central part of Tokachi Plains, physical conditions are relatively favourable for crop fanning. Many farmers cultivate beans and sugar beet, the number of milch cows per farm is small, and the emphasis of farming is laid on beans culture with subsidiary milch cows keeping on a small scale.
