A technological and business-management study of sustainable agriculture, with a focus on Hokkaido dairy farming [Japan]

Dairy farming that relies on purchased concentrate feed and that seeks herd expansion and high per-head milk yield produces frequent occurrences of sick cattle, overwork of farmers and environmental degradation. The government, in response to these problems, established the Law on Promoting Proper Management and Use of Livestock Excreta and also initiated - efforts to increase the self-sufficiency rate of feed in the nation. Specifically, the measures include the establishment of livestock excreta treatment facilities, support for the cultivation of whole crop silage as a crop-switching measure and encouragement of the use of grass. However, full-fledged implementation of such measures has not yet been seen, due to the financial burden these measures have on farmers and the unprofitable nature of growing feed grains. On the other hand, the following innovative attempts by farmers have recently attracted attention as management forms that are feasible even for small-scale, family-run farms: grazing as a laborsaving and low-cost technique; " self-paced dairy farming, " in which the management scale that is only sufficient to secure the self-supply of own coarse feed is maintained; and organic-milk production, in which all livestock excreta are composted or applied to farm fields. This paper, while reviewing the problems dairy farming in Hokkaido currently faces, discusses the livestock-related technical and management characteristics that can alleviate such problems. The following three conclusions were reached: First, sustainable dairy farming relies on the maximum self supply of feed, which requires the reevaluation and use of local feed resources; Second, sustainable livestock husbandry depends on small-scale, family - run farms, therefore, the development and dissemination of technologies that suit such farming forms are needed; and Third, since the efforts to achieve sustainable livestock husbandry are permeated into society through the provision of safe food, it is crucial to establish the system and the distribution arrangements that allow information sharing between producers and consumers.