浅間北麓における自立酪農経営の成立基盤
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概要
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The purpose of this study is to clarify bases of development of viable dairy farming system through an intensive fieldwork by synthesizing many farming elements : farm household, management, dairy cattle, land use, settlement pattern, landownership, and dairy facilities and equipment.<BR>The study area is Oyaharakaitakuchi, Naganohara Town, Gunma Prefecture, which is located at the northern foot of Mt. Asama, 150km northwest of Tokyo, and is a part of the volcanic slopes in northern Kanto District. With few opportunities of non-agricultural employment, the study area is characterized by specialization in highly productive commercial farmings : vegetable growing and dairy farming, according to land conditions. Viable dairy farming in this area has developed since the early 1960s and the viable dairy farms account for about 70 percent of the total farms in the area, showing higher concentration than in other areas.<BR>The viable dairy farmers in the study area have increased family members engaged in agriculture, enlarged area of forage crops, introduced large-scale dairy facilities and equipment, and kept large dairy herds with large-scale arable land. The most specialized group of dairy farms keep 45 dairy cows on an average and attach much importance to save expenditure and to improve milk quality in keeping dairy cattle. Milking cows account for only 70 percent on an average of the total dairy cattle kept by viable dairy farms, and the rest are calves and heifers for renewal of milking cows. Though percentage of the total milking cows in much delivered cows is only 10 percent, advanced registration cows account for about 80 percent.<BR>Development and cosolidation of arable land have been promoted with the advancement of keeping large dairy herds. Arable land has been enlarged by land reclamation and conversion of forestland to arable land, because potential land to be reclamated was more easily available than in suburban and outer suburban zones in the Tokyo metropolitan area. In the course of land development, there have been changes in landscape in terms of spatial patterns of settlement, roads, landownership and land use : for example, scattered and isolated land plots have been consolidated so that each farm may own fewer number of larger land plots near the farm household and may simplify land use pattern.<BR>The viable dairy farms in the study area are relatively highly dependent on self-supplied feed, although those in other areas more or less depend on purchased feed. The viable dairy farms in the study area use arable land predominantly for forage crops to produce self-supplied feed, which accounts for about 60 percent on an average of the total feed requirement, and the percentage of the total self-supplied feed in silage feed is about 80 percent. Therefore, ratio of the feeding cost to the value of sold milk is only about 40 percent. But ratio of the net income to the gross income still remains to be about 30 percent because loan repayment for dairy facilities and equipment is higher than in other areas.<BR>As a conclusion the development of viable dairy farming with large dairy herds in the study area has been mainly supported by availability of sufficient labor force and arable land, reflecting the geographical features of the area.
- 社団法人 東京地学協会の論文