IJERD – International Journal of Environmental and Rural Development (2020) 11-2

Research article
erd

Coping Strategies of Japanese Farmers to Recent
Challenges in K City, Chiba, Japan
NINA N. SHIMOGUCHI*
Faculty of International Agriculture and Food Studies, Tokyo University of Agriculture,Tokyo, Japan
Email: n3nocon@nodai.ac.jp

JENNICA AMIELLE M. MORA
Graduate School of Agriculture, Tokyo University of Agriculture, Tokyo, Japan

ELIZA C. AQUINO
Graduate School of Agriculture, Tokyo University of Agriculture, Tokyo, Japan
Received 7 February 2020

Accepted 12 December 2020(*Corresponding Author)

Abstract Japanese agriculture has been facing various challenges such as increasing
population of elderly farmers and lack of successors. Moreover, several environmental andmarket issues have tested the capability of Japanese farmers to cope. Through a case study
approach, this study aims to clarify the coping strategies of farmers in K City, Chiba
Prefecture to recent challenges and determine the issues to support and sustain their local
agriculture. A series of visits were conducted in 2018 and 2019, and in-depth key-informant
interview was conducted in June 2019. In-depth key-informant interview revealed that
farmers from K City organized a Farmers’ Market at their own initiatives to sustain andsupport the local agriculture for the next 10 to 20 years. Since the establishment of theFarmers’ Market in 2003, the farmers faced pesticide residue reports on turnip and various
vegetables in 2008 and 2010, respectively; radiation residue report as an effect of the 2011
Great Tohoku Earthquake and Nuclear Plant Meltdown have brought negative impacts to thefarmers as harmful rumors on the safeness of the agricultural products from K City spread toname a few. Farmers have initiated innovative actions and adapted strategies to overcome
these challenges. SWOT analysis revealed that the farmers, at their own expense, regularlytested the produce for pesticide and radiation residue to assure its quality and safeness.
However, if not continued, misconception among consumers will prevail then lead to distrust.
They even provided other services such as restaurant, café, farm tour and seminars. On theother hand, the farmers recently tend to supply to other markets aside from the Farmers’Market, conveying a significant supply issue to be addressed. In general, these strategies andinitiatives which reflect the farmers’ passion and motivation to achieve sustainability seemed
to be the factors that made them resilient to the changing environment.
Keywords resiliency, farmers’ market, motivation, adaptation strategies, SWOT analysis

INTRODUCTION
Japanese agriculture has been facing various structural challenges that need to be addressed for thesector to survive. Among these, some of the most important challenges are the increasing populationof elderly farmers and lack of successors (Brady, 2016) and decreasing population of newcomers(MAFF Japan, 2018). The average age of farmers in Japan is 66 years old (MAFF Japan, 2018;OECD, 2019) which implies that the sector highly depends its labor on elderly people. The
dependence of labor on elderly people can affect the production of the agriculture sector in the longrun, in terms of loss in human capital once they are only treated as those who receive social services(Haga, 2018). According to Su et al. (2018), lack of farm successors and insufficient agriculturallaborers are some of the factors that contribute to the abandonment of farmland which can have asignificant impact on the socio-economic conditions of the farmers as well as on environment inⒸ ISERD

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terms of rural landscape loss. On the other hand, the Organization for Economic Co-operation andDevelopment (OECD, 2019) stated that the number of newcomer farmers is less than the numbers offarmers who are exiting the agriculture sector. One way to support and encourage these farmers is toprovide accessible markets.
On a more micro-level, Japanese farmers are often faced with several environmental and market
issues which test their capability to cope. Japan is an archipelago located in the Pacific Ring of Fire
which makes it vulnerable to earthquakes. The Great Tohoku Earthquake, the strongest recorded
earthquake to hit Japan which happened last 2011, left a total of 18,186 areas of damaged agriculturalland in prefectures such as Tochigi, Ibaraki, and Chiba among others (MAFF Japan, 2013).
OBJECTIVE
This study aims to clarify the coping strategies of farmers in K City, Chiba Prefecture to recent
challenges and determine the issues to support and sustain their local agriculture.
METHODOLOGYThis study gathered primary data through a series of visits conducted in 2018 and 2019 and an indepth key-informant interview in June 2019. This study interviewed the president of farmer-based
corporation (hereafter, A Corp) and K Farmers’ Market manager through purposive sampling. Inorder to further grasp the situation on the ground, impromptu interview of farmers market staff,farmers and consumers were also conducted. The qualitative approach is used as this can reveal thepassion and motivation of the farmers in coping with the different challenges that they encounter.
The data were analyzed through SWOT analysis since it is descriptive and qualitative in nature.
SWOT analysis plays an important role in certain situations in a theoretical, historical, and time frame
perspective (Gürel, 2017). This study focused on the practices and experiences of a farmers group inK City, Chiba Prefecture as they have experienced various environmental and market issues that
affected their local agriculture and welfare.

Fig. 1 Map of Chiba, Japan where the K Farmers’ Market is locatedSource: Google Maps

Located Northwest of Chiba Prefecture, K City is about 40 km, away from Tokyo (Fig. 1).
Agriculture land accounts for 1,773 ha, of which rice fields occupy about 1,047 ha, followed byvegetables (663 ha) and fruits (63 ha). In terms of total domestic production volume, K City is
considered the major producing area of turnip, leek and spinach. With proximity to Tokyo and goodaccessibility, it is also a popular bedroom or commuter town. Thus, this city is also experiencing
agricultural land conversion to residential.
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RESULTS AND DISCUSSIONK Farmers’ Market Profile
The group of farmers from K City, Chiba Prefecture established a limited company in 2003, and built
the K Farmers’ Market at their own initiative in order to sustain and support the local agriculture forthe next 10 to 20 years. In 2004, this company was converted to a corporation with 15 stakeholders.
These initiatives were triggered by threats from cheap imported leek and were encouraged by thedemand of local consumers for freshly harvested local produce.
In the early 2000, Japanese farmers was severely affected by imported vegetables from China(Teramachi, 2002). Harashima (2006) presented the initiatives of the Japanese government andfarming communities on significant increase of imported leeks and low market price. During thistime, most farmers in the study resorted to keep their harvest in cold storage since their produce could
not compete with significantly low-priced imported leeks. This resulted to income losses anddecrease in farmer’s motivation.
As mentioned earlier, turnip is one of the famous agricultural products of K City. However,
local consumers do not have the opportunity to taste freshly harvested turnips since these arecommonly shipped to a wholesale market and sold via auction before some are shipped back to local
supermarkets or vegetable stores.
K Farmers’ Market has four (4) management principles: 1) place of sale, sharing information,and interaction; 2) consideration of consumer satisfaction; 3) promotion of local production – local
consumption; and 4) development of the community. Currently, it employs six (6) full-time and 66
part-time workers. Although there were only 150 farmer-members during the early years in 2003, itgrew up to 230 farmers in 2019. However, only 150 farmer-members are currently active. Amongthese farmers, there are only about 50 farmers who are under 40 years old, conveying that young
farmers only comprise one-third of the active members. Although majority of farmers produce
vegetables, there are also 15 and 10 farmers who produce rice and fruits (e.g. blueberry, strawberry,and grape among others), respectively. Agricultural products such as citrus, apples, dried persimmon,and melon are not available in K City, but these products are sourced from prefectures such as
Kagoshima, Aomori, Nagano, and Ibaraki, respectively.

Fig. 2 Sticker tag produced using the label-printerSource: Market visit, June 2019

Each farmer-member has the control on the time of harvest and the amount and kinds of produce
to harvest. They can also decide on the amount per pack or set as well as on the method and place ofsorting and packing. In terms of the pricing and labeling of the products, the farmer-members candecide on the price of their produce when they print sticker tags using the official label-printer. Fig.
2 shows the label of the produce which includes farmer name, product name, production area, price,and tax. It is important for them to keep a production history record, which is required to be submitted
on a regular in order to be able to issue or print sticker tags for their products. Inside K Farmers’Market, the farmer-members personally display their produce and make placards for promotion.
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member for five times per day via SMS based on the cashier data. This enables the farmer-members
to have the option of harvesting additional produce for the market. However, any unsold products
should be picked up by the farmers before the market closes.
The K Farmers’ Market uses Teraoka Cashier System which includes production history
recording, label printer, semi-automated cashier. In order to increase transparency, the label printerrequires submission of production history records and use of farm ID number. This also enables thefarmer-members to set their own price. Meanwhile, semi-automated cashier requires one staff percashier which decreases the cash handling mistakes. Although the market only accepts cash payment,accepting credit card payments is also being considered. Moreover, self-bagging is also implemented.
In terms of information sharing, the market has an official website and Facebook page whereproducts, upcoming events, store schedules, activity reports, recommendations, and reviews areregularly showcased. As the latest initiative, the market engaged in Choku-Buy (https://chokubuy.com) for promotion and information dissemination. This encourages each farmer-member toestablish individual pages on the Choku-Buy website to share updates on their farm, and eachconsumer to give feedbacks directly to farmers and use Choku-Buy Point Card.
Humble Beginnings and Challenges of K Farmers’ Market
The K Farmers’ Market was established in 2003; however, Table 1 shows the significant events andchallenges that tested their capabilities to cope. Five years after the establishment, there was a reportabout the pesticide residue on turnip. They organized a task force in order to address the situation.
They also invited experts and coordinated group studies. They had to conduct their own regularpesticide residue testing at their own expense. All these are done to regain the trust of the consumers.
Table 1 Significant events and challenges in K Farmers’ MarketSource: Market visit, June 2019

In 2010, the farmer-members faced another report on pesticide residue concerning various
vegetables. They had to close the Farmers’ Market to focus on the issue. Another task force wasformed and decided to check the production records, visit the farms, and examine the awareness ofthe farmer-members on pesticides and its usage. As this was the second time to have the incident on
pesticide residue report, they resorted to conduct regular testing on all vegetables at own expense.
By December 2010, the Farmers’ Market re-opened after testing all 150 produce which all had
negative results from pesticide residue.
Another challenge that could have destroyed their passion and motivation in sustaining local
agriculture was the Great Tohoku Earthquake in March 2011. This also caused the nuclear plant
meltdown and reports identified K City as a radiation hotspot nearest Tokyo (Japan Today, 29Ⓒ ISERD137

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November 2011). This started the harmful rumors about the nuclear contamination on the produceof K Farmers’ Market which significantly affected their sales. Due to the harmful rumors and low
trust on farmers conducting the residue testing, farmer empowerment and collective action wereinitiated which include inviting experts for training and seminars, conducting sampling and testing,and engaging consumers by letting them observe and understand the safety activities and procedures
done to ensure quality of their produce. These gradually increased the number of market visitors.
In 2016, farmers’ restaurant and café were established with a concept of traditional Japanesehouse. They introduced local dishes which are made and served by all female staff including thefarmers’ wives. This also aids in encouraging the consumers to buy local products and to consume
more vegetables (e.g. vegetables in season). The restaurant and café are open every day except on
Wednesdays from 11:00 AM to 03:00 PM. They offer a “ o Meat, o Fish, All Local Vegetables”
kind of buffet with drinks and desserts which utilizes 100 kinds of vegetables. They can serve
approximately 100 customers per day. The restaurant and café have also faced challenges such as tlimited kinds of local vegetables available and unstable income with only 4 hours of operation. As
part of their solution, they started offering the restaurant as an activity space after 3:00 pm.

SWOT Analysis of K Farmers’ Market
SWOT analysis (Table 2) revealed three main points. First, farmers conduct regular pesticide andradiation residue testing (SO1), but this incurs additional expenses to each farmer (WO1). If this is
not continued, the misconception among consumers that the produce is unsafe will prevail (T1) which
will lead to consumers’ distrust and eventually prefer other markets (WT1). Since the K Farmers’Market value their loyal customers and those customers who once left them, they have been
conducting testing until now.
Table 2 SWOT analysis of K Farmers’ Market

Opportunities(O)

Threats(T)

Strengths (S)Weaknesses (W)

1. Conduct pesticide and radiation residue testing
2. Provide alternative marketing channel to local
farmers and newcomers
3. Offer different activities, products and services
all year round
1. Possible misconception may prevail if notcontinued
2. New marketing channels has emerged
3. Management may not function if one role isunavailable

1. Create additional farmers’ expense
2. Experience unstable and unpredictablesupply of produce
3. Different thinking, priorities, and interestsof farmer-members
1. May result to customers distrust andeventually prefer other markets
2. Puts pressure to availability and variety ofsupply, which may result to costumer
dissatisfaction
3. Lack of successorsSource: Market visit, June 2019

Second, the provision of alternative marketing channel to local farmers and newcomers is
another strength of K Farmers’ Market (SO2). This gave farmer-members to make their own
production and marketing decisions. In other words, each farmer-member freely decides on thevolume and time of harvest. They are also free to set the amount, condition and price of each package
if they are transparent in the production process (e.g. production history). They even have the choice
to replenish their produce or not since sales update is sent 5 times a day. However, since farmers
need to collect unsold produce before the market closes, most farmer seemed not to be proactive in
replenishing their produce. Market observation and key-informant interview revealed that limited
choices of vegetables by 12 noon is a common. With this situation, K Farmers’ Market experience
unstable and unpredictable supply of produce (W2), which is getting alarming with the emergenceof new marketing channels (e.g. supermarkets with designated local vegetable area). This puts morepressure to the availability and variety of supply, which may result to customer dissatisfaction (WT2).

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In order to address this issue, there is a need to understand the farmers behavior towards K Farmers’Market and determine the impact of ICT to farmers.
Third, K Farmers’ Market have been offering different activities (e.g. harvest festival, riceharvesting, potato harvesting), products and services (e.g. restaurant, café) all year round. This served
as a “ba” or place of action (i.e. opportunities for various stakeholders to interact, share information
and understand one another towards a better community) (SO3). However, with different thinking,priorities and interests of farmer-members, it seemed that all members are not active as mentioned
in the previous section (W3). It is expected that management may not function if one role isunavailable (WT3). Key-informant interview clarified that there may be existing differences invalues and thinking between original incorporators and current farmer-members. Therefore, aging
incorporators have the responsibility to address the possible lack of successors (W3), who will bewilling to continue for the next 10-20 years.
CONCLUSION
In general, the strategies and initiatives of K Farmers’ Market seemed to clearly reflect the farmers’
passion and motivation to achieve sustainability and resiliency under the changing environment.
However, SWOT analysis revealed that despite all the strengths it possesses and opportunities it
offers, K Farmers’ Market needs to address the lack of successors since the original incorporators
are aging, and the unstable and unpredictable supply which is further threatened by the recent
emergence of new marketing channels.
For further study, there is a need to understand the farmers behavior towards K Farmers’ Market
and determine the impact of ICT to farmers.
ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS
We wish to extend our sincere appreciation to A Corporation President, and K Farmers’ Market
manager, staffs and farmers for their support and cooperation.
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