The purpose of this paper is to clarify the role played by social capital in the performance of rural community development. For this purpose, we identify the structure of rural community development that contains any social capital and community functions as component elements using original survey data. From analyzing the structure, the following indications are obtained: 1) Social capital has large effects on rural community development directly and/or through the intermediary of the enhancements of residents’ motivation, consensus-building function and resource management function. In particular, the combination with the trust of neighbors, the existence of leaders, the residents’ motivation and the consensus-building function is important in the structure of rural community development. 2) Residents’ motivation plays the roles that it has the great influence on the rural community development and it acts as a go-between in rural community development and social capital. 3) Trust of neighbors and existence of leaders improve human relations and enhance the consensus-building function so that these contribute to develop the rural community. 4) Human linkage has two influences on the rural community development. One is as a positive effect as other social capital, another is a direct and negative influence. Consequently, the magnitude of human linkage’s influence to the rural community development is not too large.

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[in Japanese]

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[in Japanese]

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The objective of this study is to quantitatively investigate the effects of the set-aside programs on profit efficiency in Japanese rice production over the period of 1975-2003. We estimated the observation-specific technical and allocative inefficiency using a primal system consisting of the translog production function and first-order conditions of profit maximization. We extend the model in such a manner as to examine the possibility that technical inefficiency and set-aside rate are correlated.
The empirical results obtained through the maximum likelihood method support the following hypotheses: (1) the set-aside programs have negative effects on allocative efficiency, particularly when the price of rice is falling and (2) there are differences in the extent of decreases in allocative efficiency among farm-size classes. Consequently, it is suggested that rice farmers are discouraged from participating in the set-aside programs.

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The purpose of this paper is to evaluate dairy farmers’ investment plans involving free-stall dairy housing and milking parlor systems. The real options (RO) approach is used because it is suitable for decision making under uncertainty regarding future returns from investment. The results suggest that dairy farmers in Hokkaido should refrain from investing at the moment.

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In the reclaimed land of Kasaoka bay, Okayama, livestock framings are applying more compost on their farmland than the standard application.
As a result, the nutrients in the compost are left behind in the soil and cause environmental problems such as water pollution.
In order to solve these problems, it is necessary to extract and sell the compost from the reclaimed land.
First, I analyzed the compost demand of arable framings in the reclaimed land and the land around it.
On the basis of the results, I clarified the desired additional services (such as low sale price, bag filling, transportation, and application) to promote compost sales.
Second, I evaluated the cost and labor input to offer those additional services and the sales strategy for compost.

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The purpose of this study is to investigate some of the effects of GDP growth in certain developing nations on their demand for corn. GDP growth in developing countries causes a rapid rise in the world demand for corn for feed because of the increase in the demand for livestock products in developed countries.
In this study, we estimate the demand and supply functions for livestock products as well as the derived demand function for corn in the BRICs. Using the equilibrium conditions of the livestock products market, the effects of the exogenous variables corn price, income, and population on the derived demand for corn are also analyzed.

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This paper examines consumers’ preference for apple juice after trade liberalization in Japan with an approach to choice-based conjoint analysis. While domestic apple juices were, in general, highly evaluated, those produced in China were poorly evaluated when the place of production was not indicated. Men, who usually have a stronger preference for juices than women do, tended to buy apple juice produced in China or juices that failed to indicate their origin more frequently than women. However, even men showed a higher possibility of buying juice whose safety was guaranteed by GAP. The aged people tended to prefer apple juice whose quality was guaranteed, such as domestic products and the ones guaranteed by GAP. Therefore, it is recommended that safer, good quality juices be produced and brought to the market.

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The objective of this paper is to inquire into the evaluation framework and methods of regional partnership activities in order to establish the PDCA cycle of regional partnership activities in the field of agricultural science.
First, we examined the evaluation framework of regional partnership activities by reviewing the articles related to the evaluation of CSR and NPO.
Second, we interviewed and analyzed the opinions of major stakeholders in regional partnership activities, taking the regional partnership activities of Kobe University’s Graduate School of Agricultural Science as an example.
With respect to the gaps in the expectations of stakeholders, the regional partners want faculty members to contribute new solutions to regional causes while the faculty members want to contribute by utilize their expertise.
On the basis of the understanding of these gaps, we should strategically select regional partnership activities that are committed to innumerable social causes.

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It is reasonable to assume that community-based group farming is the new direction for regional agriculture. However, the percentage of organizations for community-based group farming is very small (the whole of Japan: 9.0%, Okayama Pref.: 4.1%). In order to sustain regional agriculture, it is necessary to support the establishment of community-based group farming. In this study, we divided the formation process of community-based group farming into four steps and measured the following factors: (1) the “degree of difficulty” in establishing an organization of community-based group farming, (2) the “degree of contribution,” which is the support received from the administrative system, and (3) the “weight” of the support given by the administrative system. We then compared the degree of contribution with the weight. We made clear that refinement of support. Furthermore, we considered an effective policy for the formation process of community-based group farming.

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In recent years, the phenomenon of a decreasing population and an aging society has been seen in Japan. Nevertheless, private corporations-excepting agricultural business-throughout the country have expanded and developed. For example, the construction and food industries are increasing steadily.
I have investigated the agricultural careers of workers employed by private corporations in the agricultural business sector.
The results show that most construction workers examined in the study were born into farming families, and workers in the food industry acquired experience in agriculture when they studied it in high school and college.
When I questioned them about their future goals, only thirty percent of the workers believed that they would be able to find employment in agriculture.
In order to solve the above problem, we must consider their support system and the inhabitants recept into their hopes of agricultural business.

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This paper studies the transition and actual condition of temporary labor in Japanese rice farming from the point of view of agricultural technology development, and uses national statistical data to research the ways to procure temporary labor. Temporary hired labor had decreased with the development of agricultural technology. However, it seems to have increased slightly since the 1990s. Temporary labor changed from hired workers to mutual help and unpaid assistants among farm households, especially for small or middle-scale paddy farming. Unpaid assistants are usually farmers’ children or relatives from farm households. They serve to maintain the rural area for the future. Agricultural work by absent successors of farming has decreased since the year 2000 and agricultural work by farmers’ children who are not successor of farming has increased.

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Retail trade uses the method of trading area analysis through the geographical information system to effectively advertise its products. I apply this technique to various farmers’ markets in the geographical vicinity and grasp a characteristic and the trading area of the next store servant. Furthermore, I clarify an effective advertising policy of farmers’ markets, the characteristic of which I use in the next store servant.
In the narrow farmers’ markets within the trading area, it is believed that the distribution of the insert handbill, which includes a characteristic of the farmers’ markets that is different from the supermarket, which has a limited area, is effective. On the other hand, farmers’ markets with a large trading area were able to identify a potential consumer over a wide range. Advertisements that use mass media are effective in the wide farmers’ markets within the trading area.

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In this paper, we analyzed the demand and supply of middle-scale farmers’ market by a case study using Point of Sale (POS) data and delivered slips. In this study we determined the remaining stock and stock-out of the farmers and then developed a method for surmising proper demand when stock-outs occur. First of all, we found that the farmers had a considerable amount of remaining stock and stock-out. Second, by analysis of variance, we determined the cause of the occurrence of remaining stock and stock-out. The results revealed that supply exceeded demand in particular seasons, whereas on holidays the demand was greater than supply. These results suggest that it would be desirable for less shipment to be dispatched in the lean season and more shipments to be dispatched on holidays.

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Spraying pig waste-derived sludge on sugarcane fields is beneficial to sugarcane farmers and pig farmers. In the southern part of the Okinawa Island, the sludge is loaded on a tank truck and sprayed across the fields with a hose, which is connected to an engine pump. However, due to the hard work involved and the low efficiency level, it is not a very popular technique. It has become clear that the following method may be successful: i) setting up four hoses with many small holes on the sugarcane fields, ii) mounting two engine pumps on a 10t tank truck, iii) spraying the sludge through all four hoses (connected to the two engine pumps) at once. In order to use the hoses efficiently, they are not permanently set but moved to other fields as needed.

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In recent years, in general, there has been a demand for corporate social responsibility. This demand has been observed not only in companies but also in livestock management. In the case of livestock management, I focus on the Japanese Agricultural Standard (JAS) in such inside. First, I survey an example that conforms to the JAS standard. Then, based on this example, I consider social responsibility and production information publication. In addition, I check for differences and problems and address social responsibility.

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In this report, I study the delivery of organic farm products of three companies through their websites “Radishbo-ya Co,” “Daichiwomamorukai.co,” and “Akigawabokuen.co.” The three companies considered their development situations and current states and decided to play a significant role in organic business. Consequently, they began to sell the organic products through the Internet and the membership guidelines of these companies are developing every year. Further, the healthy goods, the quantities of which can be conveyed to the consumer members through the relief and safety of an organic business, will be compared to that of other businesses that also contribute to the society.

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Promotion services for home living improvement were established after the war as a measure for improving the status of women in rural areas. This measure was implemented through home living improvement groups under the guidance of home advisers. With respect to the formation of home living improvement groups, the Ministry of Agriculture and Forestry had developed a policy that excluded the use of existing organizations such as women’s associations.
The objective of the present study is to elucidate the relationship between the promotion services for home living improvement and women’s associations in Shimane Prefecture, where the policies of the Ministry of Agriculture and Forestry were not adhered to.
Our findings are summarized as follows.
Shimane Prefecture executed promotion services for home living improvement under the original policies. The formation of groups was implemented through women’s associations, who contributed to the development of promotion services for home living improvement.

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[in Japanese]

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Nowadays, agricultural parks are considered important compound systems for “the sixth industrialization of agriculture.” Through the examples of two agricultural parks in the Kyoto Prefecture, which are managed by different bodies, this paper determines the effects of the maintenance of agricultural parks on the revitalization of a region. According to the results, the greater the emotional attachment of a temporary employee to the agricultural park, the greater the park’s contribution to the revitalization of the region. In the case of agricultural park T, which is primarily managed by the third sector, the employees do not have a strong attachment to their workplace; hence, for them, park T merely serves “to provide a job.” On the other hand, in the case of agricultural park M, which is looked after by the local people, the people have a strong attachment to their park; thus, park M not only “provides jobs” but also serves “to motivate employees to revitalize the region.”

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In recent years, due to aging and unfavorable farming conditions, many farmers have been unable to continue crop cultivation in terrace paddy fields (TPF). This has resulted in the degradation of countryside landscapes. Although there have been a number of TPF conservation activities, only a few of them are reportedly successful in securing the continuous participation of volunteers. The terrace paddy field conservation activity in Oogi-Hirao, Shiga prefecture, is one that has been remarkably successful. With the cooperation of local and city residents, the TPF conservation program, which involves the joint work of volunteers and “owners” under the ownership system, was formed in 2004. Noteworthy is that the quasi-community currency “Oogi” was introduced to express “gratitude” to the participants. The volunteers and owners receive Oogi, which can be exchanged for local products such as rice cultivated on terrace fields. We conducted a field survey using the questionnaire schedule with TPF conservation program participants in 2007. While the survey results indicate that Oogi has certain effect on securing continuous participation, it is unclear if it has serves to mobilize new volunteers.

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The purpose of this paper is to evaluate agricultural experiences during a school trip. In order to obtain data, we conducted the questionnaire survey for high school students with regard to their agricultural experiences during a school trip. The two major results are as follows: (1) the high school students found their agricultural experiences during the school trip enjoyable and (2) the agricultural experiences during the school trip had some positive educational effects on the high school students.

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The objective of this paper is to investigate the successful cases of village-based rural tourism in Korea. This paper particularly focuses on distinguishing between the villages with regard to their programs for rural tourism and the existence of a leader for their rural tourism activities. We conducted our field work in Village A of the North Chungchong Province and Village B of the Kyounggi Province in Korea. In both cases, we discovered that diversified experience programs based on local resources such as abundant natural environment and traditional rural music are provided and the leaders of rural tourism are devoted to the rural tourism activities and are independent of the role of the top administrator in their own local authority. Further, we discovered that the number of tourists visiting each village increases every year.

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This study deals with recently expanded “One company, one rural village” sisterhood relationships in Korea, and reveals the actual conditions and problems through interviews and surveys.
A degree of effectiveness of the movement was seen under the mediated system of The National Agricultural Cooperative Federation (NACF), resulting in approximately 13,000 affiliated cases in three years. In addition, the estimated causes of the rapid expansion are attributed to high public empathy to support rural communities and active promotion by NACF.
The issues for further expansion are (1) alleviation of the gap between the needs of the contractants, (2) quantitative and qualitative enrichment of programs, (3) frequent opinion exchanges and broad information sharing, and (4) strategic development for business activity, especially for corporations.
Despite the differences in social conditions, it is possible to develop the movement in Japan by carefully considering this study and the institutional arrangements.

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The revised Food Recycling Law urges food businesses to recycle their food residue for compost and other purposes. However, the recycling ratios differ in different business categories. In fact, the ratio for food retailers is still lower than in other categories.
This study focuses on food recycling by a large food retailer and reveals the challenges faced by food retailers in building the “recycling loop,” which is a system of composting the food residues, using the compost in agricultural production, and selling the agricultural products back to the retailer. It was found that success was guaranteed when (1) agricultural cooperatives ensure the quality of compost and (2) the retailer buys the products at higher prices. Moreover, for improved recycling, it is important to establish techniques for the proper handling of compost from various residues and to improve the marketing methods of agricultural products.

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In China, the per capita rice consumption of rural residents in provinces where the staple food is rice has been decreasing since 1991. In contrast, in provinces where the staple food is wheat the per capita rice consumption has increased. It is assumed that in provinces where the staple food is wheat, the rural residents’ tendency to increase the rice consumption is fairly preceded by the urban residents. To investigate this phenomenon, consumer questionnaires were administered to residents in the city of Shijiazhuan. The result revealed that the weekly consumption of rice was more than that of wheat. In this context, the urban residents come from the wheat consuming provinces and have tasted rice only in recent years, yet rice has already become the staple food for a majority of urban residents. Therefore, the rice consumption of urban residents in the provinces where wheat is the staple food is expected to increase in the future.

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Although Funatsu Denjibei was a trained farmer, he worked at the Komaba Agricultural School, where he managed the farm and lectured students on traditional agricultural techniques. All the other teachers at the Komaba Agricultural School were foreigners and lectured the students on Western Agricultural Science.
In this paper, we clarify Funatsu Denjibei’s attitude toward Western Agricultural Science.
Funatsu Denjibei contributed to the establishment of modern agricultural science in Japan by imparting empirical knowledge to agriculturists. He kept company with the other foreign teachers and acquired knowledge on Western Agricultural Science from them and the young agriculturists who graduated from the school. Although he used some of this knowledge, it did not influence his agricultural techniques. The agricultural techniques that he advocated had accumulated over years of experience. He attached great importance to them and when the ideas held by other agriculturists ran contrary to his experience, he always retorted and strongly questioned their opinions.

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[in Japanese]

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