Agricultural Management Patterns of Reclaimed Land in terms of Geographical Features

Abstract

One of the main causes of stagnation of post-war reclamation works is the unfavourable natural conditions.This paper deals with the restrictions which topography, as one of the conditions, places on the management agriculture in reclaimed landThe nature of the land brought under cultivation in, Yamagata Prefecture was divided into the following eight configurational features: mountain land, hilly land, volcanic slopes, alluvial fans, terraces, plateaus, level land, and sandhills.On the other hand, based on the actual results of our investigation, indexes to the agricultural management patterns were sought from:1) the rate of rice fields2) the ratio of farm products predominant in the planted area3) the ratio of livestock introduced and the acreage of feeding stuff4) the proportion of income from the farmland to that from stock-raising.Putting these together, the writer attempted to make a typological classification of the reclaimed land in Yamagata Prefecture.That is:1) mountain land—cereals, fruit-culture type2) hill areas—minor grains, fruit-culture type3) volcanic slopes—dairy, vegetables type4) alluvial fans—fruit-culture, dairy type5) terraces—rice-fields, stock-farming type6) table lands—dairy, fruit-culture type7) level land—cereals, stock-farming type8) sandhills—vegetables, fruit-culture type.Of course, the above patterns are those prevailing at present and in future they may not be ideal patterns of management of agriculture. Nor can they be exactly applicable to the other regions of Japan.