畑作における新たなコントラクター体制の構築に関する考察 : JAきたみらい管内を事例に

概要

Recently, the size of each farmerʼs farming area has been increasing. As a result, it is becoming difficult to manage farming without employed workers, and farmers need to use smart technology and services like farm contractors. Farm contractors have been a solution and have been established in many areas. However, a lot of them have become smaller or have disbanded. This study focuses on two upland farm contractors, namely a farmer organized contractor and an agricultural cooperative organized contractor, and it clarifies the ideal organization of an upland farm contractor. It is appropriate for agricultural cooperatives to manage farm contractors because they are advisors for farmers and the both cooperatives and contractors have a close relationship. In the case of the KITAMIRAI Agricultural Cooperative, they have large scale machines and work for all areas. However, this causes constraints, so farm field development is needed. In case of farm organized contractors, their machines can be utilized by operators who are farmers, resulting in an increased operation rate for the machines. However, the scale of the contractors is small and needs to be expanded in order to maintain farmland. As a conclusion, it is impossible for a single farm contractor to manage a huge area, so it is desirable that the relationship between the two organizations is complementary.