Income Change and Inter-Farmer Relations through Conservation Agriculture in Ishikawa Prefecture, Japan: Empirical Analysis of Economic and Behavioral Factors

Abstract

Conservation agriculture, also known as environment-friendly agriculture, is expected to contribute to global climate change mitigation and biodiversity conservation. To understand the effect of conservation agriculture on farmers and identify those factors, such as farmers’ income change, that might affect practices of conservation agriculture, perceptions, and output, this study examined farmers’ economic and behavioral factors, motivation, and satisfaction. We surveyed 51 farmers who are receiving subsidies to practice conservation agriculture in Ishikawa Prefecture, Japan. The survey is one of the first prefectural-scale studies that combines unique quantitative analysis of motivation and satisfaction levels (e.g., behaviors) in temporal sequence from the initial to current time to practice conservation agriculture. Our results showed that years of experience, trade with a retail shop, and the farmer’s age can affect income change. With regard to social factors, the satisfaction of their fellowship with other farmers practicing conservation agriculture was also significantly correlated with income change. Simultaneously, this category of satisfaction was difficult to attain compared to the other categories. Thus, greater effort is needed to enhance support networking among conservation farmers. Furthermore, the work presented here also provides the opportunity for future research on temporal and spatial questions surveying economic and behavioral effects with consideration of the heightened policy promotion and entrance of large retail industries.