Primary approaches of agricultural management studies rely on case analyses and normative analyses. This field has often faced criticism related to the difficulty of generalizability of scientific discussion partly because procedures that ensure scientific objectivity are difficult to employ. Moreover, an evaluative perspective highlighting the practical applicability of agricultural management studies holds that despite the complexity of environmental factors, social institutions, and local conditions, the rich information obtained even from a few cases can effectively contribute to solving regional issues and supporting farmers’ decision making. Accordingly, the agenda of this symposium focuses on diverse managerial norms and resource constraints, emphasizing the development of the practical applicability of agricultural management studies. Moreover, these discussions aim to emphasize application-oriented perspectives of analysis that contribute to the practical applicability of agricultural management research not only in academic studies but also in agricultural extension and advisory activities.

Information and Communication Technology(ICT)-based information systems and services for smart farming have recently diffused among Japanese farm management entities expanding their scale of operations. Based on the author’s research results over the past ten years and organizational and contract theories, this paper explains how farm managements should utilize ICT-based information systems and services with changing their organizational structures, and what strategy they should choose for the utilization to enhance their farm management. This paper shows that whether farm management entities can effectively utilize ICT-based information systems and services toward their growth depends on their endowments or availability of complementary human resources and/or their collaboration systems with external organizations. Moreover, this paper discusses how farm management entities can combine various management resources and collaborate with external organizations to efficiently utilize ICT-based information systems and services and enhance their management growth. Thus, this paper points out that farm management entities need to develop effective combination and collaboration strategies. The paper presents specific examples and theoretical explanations to illustrate these arguments. For example, when farm management entities adopt ICT-based information systems, delegating authority to employees may not be efficient for them. The reason is that the employees may not easily master management skills. Additionally, the communication cost savings due to the ICT-based information systems may be sufficiently large to justify authority centralization to managers. Thus, the optimal authority allocation for such farm management entities depends on their human resource endowments and the cost-effectiveness of the systems. This paper illustrates what strategy such farm management entities can take to develop a competitive combination of human resources and ICT-based information systems consistent with the optimal authority allocation.

Farm management with hired labor has developed despite the current decline in Japanese agriculture. The labor market has changed since the 2010s, particularly in non-seniority-based expansion and low-wage employment among young and middle-aged men, referred to as “employment deterioration.” This study clarifies how these changes have influenced farm management development with hired labor, focusing on resource constraints, such as the labor force and farmland. Employment deterioration creates a relative work advantage in the agriculture sector by lowering wage expectations and fosters a management mindset among certain farmers. However, a dual income is necessary in low-income households, which induces labor supply. Thus, hiring opportunities at low wages are offered in farm management with hired labor. In addition, low-income households often reduce their farm size or retire from their own farm because they are required to work full-time by their employers. Therefore, farmland is supplied to farm management with hired labor. As a result, employment deterioration has dual effects: (1) It encourages upward development among farmers with a management mindset and makes them farm managers with hired labor. (2) It causes widespread downward development among low-income households by retiring from their own farm.

This study examines how large-scale agricultural corporations in Hokkaido that manage local resources are established under conditions of rapid depopulation and aging. The following points are clarified. First, a case study shows that a farm in X Town expanded to approximately 173 ha by consolidating farmland vacated by exiting farmers. To maintain an appropriate cropping balance, this farm temporarily increased the proportion of labor-intensive buckwheat and wheat. It also expanded paddy rice, the core of its rice production by securing suitable workers, machinery, and facilities. Second, the study finds that sparse planting and direct seeding have been adopted in remote paddy fields to mitigate severe constraints related to seedling production and transportation in rice cultivation. For such large-scale agricultural corporations to be established and operate stably, management strategies that respond to both internal and external business environments are essential.

This paper clarifies the status and planned development of agricultural management support services in greenhouse horticulture. In Japan, large-scale greenhouse operations exceeding 1ha are increasing, and such operations often face significant challenges in environmental control and human resource management. Introducing consultants in cultivation and human resource management can effectively address these issues. Hence, this paper presents case studies on the introduction of such consultants. In addition, one of the authors serves as a consultant and provides detailed examples from his own practice.