Lost in translation: incomer organic farmers, local knowledge, and the revitalization of upland Japanese hamlets

Abstract

Upland Japan suffers from extreme depopulation, aging, and loss of agricultural, economic, and social viability. In addition, the absence of a successor generation in many marginalized hamlets endangers the continuation of local knowledge associated with upland agricultural livelihoods and severely limits the prospects of rural revitalization and development. Resettlement by incomer organic farmers represents an opportunity to both pass on valuable local knowledge and rejuvenate local society. Survey and interview data are used to explore the knowledge dynamics at play in upland Japan between local and incomer organic farmers. Using a ''knowledge culture'' framework, socio-cultural and symbolic barriers and spatial conditions limiting local knowledge exchange are identified and analyzed. Despite a number of reasons to suggest affinity and natural alignment toward knowledge sharing, each group's ideas of ''legitimate knowledge'' and acceptable behavior have contested the field of communication and confused the negotiation process. Building on previous studies of farmer's knowledge networks, examples in this study suggest that negotiation between knowledge cultures can be facilitated by both active means and intrinsic factors, and be derailed because of physical and temporal symbolic references. The degree to which locals and incomers collaborate and identify with each other as stakeholders with a common future may determine the extent to which local knowledge, especially local knowledge from past agricultural regimes, can play a role within upland endogenous development.

The Use of Oral Histories to Identify Criteria for Future Scenarios of Sustainable Farming in the South Yangtze River, China

“…However, the increase in scale and machinery, and the intensive use of chemical fertilizers actually resulted in a nationwide decline of agricultural productivity and increase in imported foods [71], stemming largely from a decreasing and aging farming population and the failure to integrate the liberalisation of the economy with agricultural policies [14]. Over the last 30 years, there have been increasing concerns about the deterioration of its satoyama regions due to the rapid industrialisation and urbanisation following WWII, as well as the under-management and depopulation of farming lands caused by rural-urban migration and aging population [72].…”

“…Over the last 30 years, there have been increasing concerns about the deterioration of its satoyama regions due to the rapid industrialisation and urbanisation following WWII, as well as the under-management and depopulation of farming lands caused by rural-urban migration and aging population [72]. Satoyama regions are very important to Japan as they represent about 43% of Japan's cultivated lands and contribute to 39% of its national agricultural production ( [14], p. 393).…”

“…Japanese agricultural modernisation developed first and more rapidly in the flatland rural areas in the 1950s and 1960s, and later in the satoyama regions during the 1980s [14]. However, unlike in China, "the rationalization and modernization of agriculture did not stamp out some of the core pieces of the hyakusho way of life: traditional hamlet social structure, subsistence-oriented livelihood strategy among farming households, and many traditional agricultural practices, especially in upland areas where the topography limited the extent of infrastructural change" ( [14], p. 395).…”

“…However, unlike in China, "the rationalization and modernization of agriculture did not stamp out some of the core pieces of the hyakusho way of life: traditional hamlet social structure, subsistence-oriented livelihood strategy among farming households, and many traditional agricultural practices, especially in upland areas where the topography limited the extent of infrastructural change" ( [14], p. 395). This led in turn to the coexistence of, on the one hand, the traditional Japanese hamlet (village) consisting of multiple interdependent households as the basic operational units for farming and, on the other hand, the socio-economic and structural changes brought forth by modernisation.…”

“…The "sixth industry" creates new added-value by effectively integrating the production, processing and distribution activities of the agriculture, manufacturing and service industries [14]. This development is also relevant to the Yangtze River Delta region as its operationalisation is based on the integration of different industry sectors and thus paves the way to increase the financial returns and added value of farming.…”