| Popis: |
The emergence of diverse innovative farms engaged in multi-sectoral commercialization, or so-called "rokuji-sangyo-ka, " arguably portends future directions of Japan's agricultural sector. This study presents an ideal-typical cataloguing of rokujisangyo- ka cases on the rise by existing innovative farms and discusses their directions and rationales behind them. The analysis considers a few factors relevant to viable business development in innovative farms, including "sanchi, " or a location specialized in production of specific crops and where those innovative farms are situated, and roles of Japan Agricultural Cooperatives (JAs). The paper concludes with an argument that presence of, and networking and collaboration among diverse farm entities, including conventional family-run farms to large-scale corporate-oriented farms, are essential not only for viable and sustainable business development and succession of innovative farms, but also for thriving regional agriculture in Japan. In essence, it is hardly possible to envisage Japan's farm sector by letting solely the limited number of cutting-edge farms survive and undertake agriculture. |
