| Popis: |
This epilogue reflects on the slow-moving demographic and economic transformations that have catapulted Japanese farming and rural villages into a crisis of existential proportions. It looks at the narrative of the struggles of a remote, mountainous community of Kumamoto Prefecture. In considering the rural community of Yamato, the chapter illustrates how farming is woven into the economic and social fabric of rural communities, how the painful economic and social trade-offs inherent in agricultural and co-op reform can reverberate far beyond the farm, and how Japan Agricultural Cooperatives (JA) remains an integral component of rural Japan's uncertain future. Ultimately, JA must address not only the economic requirements of top performers but also the collective needs—social as well as economic—of the localities in which they reside. Japan Agricultural Cooperatives, in sum, must strike a sustainable balance between conforming to market forces while upholding the basics of traditional agricultural cooperation. |
