Under the agricultural policy conversion, a farm manager is required to have superior management capabilities. Subsequently, the establishment of theories and methods on farm management extension has become an important subject. The purpose of this paper is to consider what effective farm management extension should be in the context of vegetable-producing districts.
In this paper the discussion concerns effective method of farm management extension in the cases of two vegetable-producing districts that are at different growth stages. Since there have been many discussions about the growth stages of vegetable-producing districts, these stages are defined referring to Mr. Sitinohe’s research. As introduced in several books, the concept is of farm management as a complex system. So the discussion presented in this paper continues after the function and hierarchy of decision making in which the problem occurs has been clarified. Based on this review, the causes of the gap in productivity between farms can be identified in order to solve the managerial problem.
As a result of the analysis, the following conclusions were obtained;
(1) It is obvious that there is a difference in what the important problems are according to the growth stage of a vegetable-producing district. To put it concretely, whether or not a farm manager applies basic technology influences the productivity gap between farms in the initial stage. On the other hand, whether or not a farm manager appropriately organizes management resources influences the productivity gap between farms in the stage of principal producing district. Accordingly, it is necessary to identify the problem and the contributing factor at the first step of farm management extension. The extension center has to help farm managers clearly understand the problem so that it may contribute to improved farm manager behavior.
(2) It is obvious that the success of top management depends on the state of middle and lower management. It is necessary to support lower management to reduce the productivity gap between farms in the initial stage. On the other hand, it is necessary to support middle management to reduce the productivity gap between farms in the stage of principal producing district. The extension center has to adapt in how it supports management hierarchy depending on the growth stage of vegetable-producing districts, because farm managers have various roles.
(3) It is concluded that the farm management extension has the best impact on manager’s behavior when it synchronizes its activities with technology consulting. In the initial stage, an effective farm management extension helps farm managers recognize the relation between the result and lower management by means of quantification theory and the break-even point. On the other hand, in the stage of principal producing district, effective farm management extension helps farm managers reflect on the normative proposal in their plan by means of linear programming. The extension center has to be flexible in the application of the proposed economic index, for example such as identifying short-term goals or the proper allocation of resources, according to the growth stage of vegetable-producing districts.

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