The used of information and communication technology (ICT) in farm management is rapidly spreading in Japan. Farm managers’ consciousness of ICT plays an important role when evaluating effects of ICT. 545 managers were asked our nationwide questionnaire to describe the rate of ICT use and managers’ consciousness of ICT’s cost-effectiveness about 10 ICT application purposes. In addition, we extracted latent factors behind the consciousness (i.e., managers’ viewpoints toward ICT cost-effectiveness) by using a factor analysis. We established two possible hypotheses what the factors will be extracted as: processes of the management (e.g., setting objects, planning, decision-making and controlling) and sectors of the business (e.g., production, marketing, financing and staffing). Firstly from the result, almost 70% of surveyed managers used ICT and 70% to 80% of them thought that ICT added value relative to its cost. But rates of ICT use were appeared to be unrelated to the cost-effectiveness for each purpose. Rates of ICT use were relatively high for financing and cost reduction, and ICT’s cost-effectiveness were relatively high for increasing client confidence and visualizing the business. Secondly, from factor analysis, three primary factors affecting managers’ consciousness of ICT applications were identified: production visualization, accounting visualization, and enhancing profitability. The results indicate that managers evaluate ICT cost-effectiveness by sectors of the business. In particular, the first two factors appear to be related to human resource development. Finally, factor score comparisons by farm characteristics revealed three points: livestock farms evaluate ICT cost-effectiveness to be higher than farms producing other goods in terms of enhancing profitability factor; farms with higher sales place a greater value on the production and accounting visualization factors than those with lower sales; and larger farms (i.e., those with more employees) place a higher value on the production visualization factor than smaller farms do. From these results, this study clarified evaluation and structure of nationwide farm managers’ consciousness of ICT cost-effectiveness in Japan.

A real-time soil sensor was used to collect soil spectra in a field, and reference soil samples were also collected. The best calibration models for 19 soil parameters were generated by using partial least squares (PLS) regression. Contour maps of soil parameters were generated, with even spacing and local recommendation levels. Local growers were then asked to assist in evaluating the maps. The results show that the soil maps were helpful for understanding the local growers’ fields, and the maps of local recommendation levels were more helpful still.

This study aimed at identifying factors that influence decisions in the dissemination of agricultural production management systems and considering the roles of extension agencies. The implementation decision-making process was evaluated at four farming companies implementing a new agricultural production management system in Ibaraki Prefecture as a case study. From the results of trial test of systems, companies that correspond to area increases by limited labors tended to discount the need to manage information. They also recognized conflict between information management and other tasks, such as infrastructure development. Companies that were concerned with production management also did not adopt the system because they could not use the previous method to manage employees or because the system was difficult to operate. In all cases, a common decision-making factor was the complexity of the system’s interface. We concluded that the roles of extension agencies are as follows: (1) to encourage farmers to recognize the importance of production management and to present the economic effects of management systems; (2) to support system implementation by matching farmers and systems; and (3) to connect the needs of farmers with those of system implementers or innovators in order to contribute to the useful development and innovation of agricultural management systems.

The food-labeling system known as Foods with Function Claims (FFC) was implemented in 2015 in Japan. Because consumer demand for agricultural products containing functional ingredients is increasing, the need to promote the use of the FFC system by producers of agricultural products is also growing. The aim of this research was to clarify consumer preferences for agricultural products using the FFC. We conducted a questionnaire survey of first-year students at Tohoku University and focused on selective behavior data on how consumers selected Wenzhou oranges using choice experiments. We then used a conditional logit model to clarify consumer preferences by using the FFC. Consumers’ evaluations were lower when unfamiliar functional ingredients about the oranges were presented. Therefore, even in the development of functional indicators for agricultural products, it is important to consider not only the function to be displayed, but also whether the functional ingredients are generally recognizable to consumers. In addition, participants who had a greater knowledge of the contents of the FFC had a more negatively evaluated displays functional ingredients and functionality. In the future, to ensure that customers trust the FFC, the safety of the current system must be enhanced, for example by improving the scientific basis for FFC labeling.

Commuter farming can be defined as farming managed by farmers who do not live in the rural area near the farmland and thus must commute from a more urbanized area. The aims of this study were to examine the potential of commuter farming and to clarify its effects on promoting regional agricultural production infrastructure in a citrus production island area in Japan. The questionnaire survey and in-depth interviews had been conducted on 14 farmers, who are the overall sample of commuter farming in that area. The main conclusions of this study can be summarized as follows. (1) There are several advantages of commuter farming over traditional farming. For example, commuter farmers can enjoy more conveniences in daily life, a better educational environment for their children, greater opportunity to communicate with other farmers during the commute, a more reasonable balance between work and personal life, and fewer conflicts with family members. (2) These advantages can encourage more children from farm households to become carrier farmers and set up their own households in their home towns. (3) The advantages can also make the regional agricultural production infrastructure more stable by increasing the number of farmers and by bringing abandoned land back into production. (4) To encourage commuter farming, some types of public assistance may be needed, such as subsidies for commuting expenses in the short run and for maintaining local infrastructure in the long run.

As existing data become more accessible to more users, associated metadata that inform researchers about the data contents are often not annotated. For example, Field Server data directly shared from local storage have been published on Field Server Data Storage <http://fsds.dc.affrc.go.jp/> with insufficient metadata. This study addressed the metadata design for these Field Server data and attempted to integrate directory structure information into metadata. In doing so, the Field Server Data were made more informative and comprehensive, and the amount of metadata description was reduced. By precisely encoding semantic relationships between the data items using Resources Description Framework and registering them in representative catalog sites, the data discoverability and usability would be improved. In addition, by classifying data using this directory structure, data publishing would be simplified.