Self-identification as the farmer: By the life course approach based on collaboration concept
1999
Oishi, K. (Japan Society for the Promotion of Science, Tokyo)
The agriculture in Japan has faced a serious problem - the number of farmers has been drastically decreasing. To improve this critical situation, it is necessary to clarify how the young generation make decision to choose their occupation. And at the same time, to analyze this process, a new methodology should be established. In this paper, therefore, the life course approach and Collaboration concept in sociology are adopted. The case study has been made on some young farmers in Nakano City, Nagano prefecture, which is famous for the fruits and Enoki mushroom production. Compared with other districts, there are not a few young persons who take over their family farms. Two points are questioned here. First, how they made decision to succeed their family farms. To estimate the influence of their surroundings on their decision-making, various factors are examined, such as the attitudes of their parents, the pressure to succeed, the existence of many farmers in the same region, the profitability of their farms, and so on. And Second, how they maintain it. While working as a farmer, they face many conflicts in their minds, and therefore, it is necessary to estimate their self-identification with their occupation. It is concluded that the economic factors, as supposed, are not the dominant in choosing their occupation - non-economic factors work as well as economic ones, and that the achievement of self-identification depends on the relationships with others, that is, Collaboration, which is indispensable for reproducing farmers
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