In recent years, the number of Japanese group farms based on rural communities has been increasing, with some of these merging into larger, contiguous units. Every group farm has its own management system, including a farming information network. For this reason, the success of a merger is dependent in part on the smooth integration of information systems that are different from one another.
This paper presents the results of research on the restructuring of farming information networks in a merged group farm from the viewpoint of network theory. We selected “Farm O” in Hokuriku district as a case study example. This farm was founded as the result of a merger of 3 group farms. The results of our analysis are as follows :
1. We found that two group farm management system types existed before the merger. One was a group farm that had a small number of qualified leaders. In this type, the flow of farming information was delivered smoothly throughout the farm because the information was distributed by a small number of leaders. On the other hand, the centralization of information brought about by the merger might have caused a “risk of hub” problem, as network theory would suggest.
Another group farm type had board members who did not have enough ability to manage their group farm because they happened to be chosen either by rotation of members or they were key community persons, such as agricultural committee members who receive subsidies from the local government. These board members were not able to convey useful information to their members. These results suggest that the restructuring of management systems is important when group farms are to be merged.
2. With respect to the management system restructuring, we would like to note two points :
a) The board members in a group farm who cannot provide relevant information to their fellow members should not be given a post in the new organization. This means that board members should be chosen because of their management ability.
b) A reduction in the number of board members makes the flow of farming information faster than before because it increases the number of “node” board members. However, it might also bring about problems that we call “risk of hub.” Poorly distributed farming information will lead to organizational conflicts in the new organization. We conclude that it is important that board members should not be chosen from a specific community in order to bring out cooperation between rural communities.

View full abstract