Agrarian thoughts are a type of social thought, but their characteristics are not sufficiently clear. One reason is that some thoughts that share the same keywords are given different names. This might show that the originalities of these thoughts are not based on their ideal novelty but on how to combine contemporary issues with agrarian affairs. To consider this point, this paper focuses on two concepts based on less (no) chemical methods: Y. Une’s method for reducing chemicals; and general organic agriculture. These ideas have been developed with a similar viewpoint with regard to social change, but they were not integrated. Therefore, they should not be understood as having a linear relationship simply because both involve reducing the volume of chemicals. A hypothesis in this paper is that they have different images of social change as goals. To compare them, a tetrahedron model was adopted that has four vertices, each assigned to one element. The four vertices represent human, technology, social system, and nature. Une is a thinker who produced a method of growing rice while reducing pesticides and has developed this process as a social thought. Finally, he reached the ideas of agrarianism, integrating over 40 years of considerations. His goal was to establish a new agrarian norm against modernity. This distinguishes Une’s thoughts from general organic agriculture, which prioritizes social extensions.

This research clarified the roles and challenges of support organizations through interviews with dairy farmers and members of those organizations based on the Honshu region’s initiatives regarding third-party inheritance of dairy farms. We selected four regions with different types of support organizations. The results revealed that the structure of council-style support organizations enables centralization and information sharing, while contributing to a smooth transfer of property for both the original owners and successors. Second, while those in charge of support organizations knew the identities of individuals who would be leaving farming, they did not compile or disclose such information. Third, the residents living near a farm that was being transferred to a third party objected to the new proprietors for reasons, such as environmental degradation, and council-style support organizations were unable to cope with this type of problem.

We conducted a social experiment to clarify the possibility of diffusion of natural enemy utilization technology by calling attention to hidden needs. Specifically, we prepared an opportunity to observe natural enemies and the technology demonstration at a farmer’s field for change agents and farmers. This approach aimed to improve awareness and generate interest in natural enemies. As a result, for change agents, technology transmission was promoted. For farmers, interest in natural enemies improved, and the intention to introduce this technology rose. Conversely, for change agents, the change in the promotion behavior of this technology and network with a researcher were restrictive.

To examine the characteristics of the effects and issues of human resource development (HRD) of employees in agricultural corporations in Japan, this study compares the main farm products, with a focus on greenhouse vegetables. We analyzed data from a questionnaire survey conducted in 2016. The results are as follows. (1) “Everyday meeting” and “support for obtaining qualification” are the most common effective measures. (2) “Hiring” and “securing” competent employees are the most common issues. (3) Greenhouse vegetable corporations have more issues in terms of shortage of personnel for training employees. (4) Moreover, their implementation of HRD is at a lower level. This could be due to differences in the expectations for non-management employees of Greenhouse vegetable corporations. (5) “Preparation manuals” and “securing employees of similar age” seem to be effective, however “job rotation” and “independent division system” are not. Hence, more insight into motivation improvement for non-management employees and career development for women are especially important.

Using the monthly pork carcass production and wholesale prices of pork carcasses by grade in the central wholesale market in Japan, this study analyzed variable cyclical fluctuations from 1989 to 2018. The results revealed that the basic cycle period of pork carcass production fell from 60 months to 46 months until 2010 and then increased. For wholesale prices of pork carcasses by grade, the cycle period of the highest grade shortened from 65 to 40 months, and that of the out-of-grade shortened from 59 to 35 months. The wholesale prices by other grades of that the high, the weighted average of highest and high, the medium, and the average, each cycle period of these four grades increased from approximately 58 months to approximately 82 months.

The use of geographical indication (GI) has been applied to many coffee farms aiming to link to origin and provide benefits and costs to the farmers and local community. This study examines the economic impact of GI for small-scale coffee farmers in Northern highland of Thailand. Propensity score matching (PSM) is used to estimate the comparison between GI and non-GI farmers on economic indicators: total cost, profit, and land productivity. Empirical result reveals that the number of off-farm family member and the distance from farm to a selling point increase the likelihood of GI participation. Another finding suggests that GI coffee farmers gain economic benefits from increasing profit and reducing the total cost, but lowering the land productivity. Thus, encouraging coffee farmers participating in GI scheme would improve economic benefits and boost farmer livelihoods in the specific geographical area.