The research trends identified in this study can be summarized as follows. First, there is a significant shift in research subjects from farmers (or individual management) to companies (corporate management). In the last five years, corporate management has been the subject of more than a quarter of the articles. These changes began in the late 1980s and early 1990s, and after 30 years, the “Japanese Journal of Farm Management” has identified them as a prominent trend. This is due to changes in agricultural policies during this period, as well as the growth and development of agricultural companies and corporate management. This trend is expected to continue for the foreseeable future.

Second, research into “human resource development” and “information and intellectual resources” is increasing. This is considered to be related to the first point. It is also a natural tendency, given the growing importance of “human resource development” and “information and intellectual resources” in business management. However, papers about “human resource development” account for more than only 10% of all articles published in the recent five years. This is projected to continue to increase. Regarding information and intellectual resources, the ratio of articles in this domain has been higher than that of “human resource development” over the last 50 years. However, it has declined in the last five years and now ranks below “human resource development.” Because “information and intellectual resources” and “human resource development” can be considered two sides of the same coin, they may be discussed under the heading “human resources and human resource development” in the future.

Third, there is considerable research in the area of “management growth and development.” This is also considered to be related to the first point, and it can be said that this is a natural tendency because most corporate management focuses on management growth and development. However, in the last five years, the percentage of articles in the area of “business growth and development” has decreased to less than 10% of all articles, and is anticipated to increase. There is no discernable trend in the percentage of articles in the area of “innovation.” “Innovation” is a “business growth and development” process that can be discussed in the same domain.

Fourth, research related to a variety of areas has become increasingly vigorous. For “corporate management,” the percentage of articles on themes, such as “human resource development” and “management growth and development” is rising. The total percentage of articles relating to two or more areas has reached over one-third of the published articles in the last five years. This trend suggests that research with a broader scope is increasing, resulting in a more comprehensive understanding of actual agricultural management than before. This trend is likely to continue in the future.

As discussed above, there are still few papers published in this journal that directly address the author’s interest in agricultural innovation. However, theories focusing on agricultural corporations and corporate management, which the author considers to be the main entity of agricultural innovation, and articles focusing on agricultural human resources, and the practice of agricultural innovation, are increasing. The number of articles on management growth and development that are attributed to innovation is also rising. Furthermore, the number of articles related to other domains, including human resources, which are inextricably linked to information and intellectual resources, has increased. These developments, according to the author, appear to indicate that agricultural innovation research will become more relevant in the future.

China is one of the countries that has a developed e-commerce market, which has become one of the most important agricultural product marketing channels. In this study, we experimentally defined the characteristics of farm managements’ introduction of e-commerce, using the case of a kiwi fruit producing area in Henan Province. The most popular agricultural products sold through e-commerce are fruits. However, most farmers in the study area had sold all of their produce to middlemen before harvesting. Nevertheless, the number of farmers using e-commerce has increased exponentially in a short period of time since its inception in the area, with 40% of the surveyed farmers using it. E-commerce does not have a significant profit margin in comparison to sales to middlemen, but if idle labor can be used for shipment preparation work during the off-farm period, additional labor costs will not be an expense, resulting in higher revenues. When comparing farmers who have implemented e-commerce with those who have not, it is considered that information literacy and the availability of an idle workforce for shipment preparation work play a role.

The purpose of this study was to clarify the current status and limiting factors of citrus farmland consolidation in Japan. Possibilities for overcoming agricultural land fragmentation were examined from the viewpoint of farmland liquidity. To achieve this goal, interview surveys were conducted with 19 ukete farmers who had received citrus farmland in the research area of Kawakami area, Yawatahama City, Ehime Prefecture.

Through the intermediary service of the “farmland liquidity committee” established in the agricultural cooperative association, farmland liquidity progressed for recipient farmers in the Kawakami area. Farmland consolidation, however, had not been enhanced. According to the analysis of the target of this study—citrus farmland acquisition from 2000 to 2014—, bunsanteki shutoku (dispersive acquisition ; acquired land that was not adjacent to land previously owned) increased and menteki shutoku (adjacent acquisition ; acquired land that was adjacent to land previously owned) accounted for approximately 30%. In this study, the criteria for achievement in terms of farmland consolidation were “the number of farmland plots was less than 10 and the size of most farmland plots was more than 50 ares.” The analysis indicated that farmers who satisfied these requirements did not exist. Thus, the problem of land fragmentation has not been solved.

Regarding limiting factors, first, the balance between demand and supply in citrus farmland had been lost. When dashite farmers, as suppliers, relinquished land, there was an increasing number of cases in which a famer who owned adjacent land was not able to obtain land. Second, farmers as recipients tended to be labor-intensive and not motivated to accumulate citrus farmland. Third, recipients preferred to obtain excellent land in order to establish consolidation, while suppliers did not easily release excellent land.