Apple and Vegetable Producing Area in the Valley of the Mabechi River

Abstract

In the valley of the Mabechi river in Aomori Prefecture, there is an intensive horticultural area near San-no-he. In this area the culture of apples and vegetables is dominant, characterizing this area from the adjacent areas in the eastern part of Aomori Prefecture. The agricultural land use at the area is rapidly changing in accordance with the development of commercial farming. The author shows the change in two land use maps in 1914 and 1962 (Fig. 4 and Fig. 5), and analyses the factors of the change of agricultural land use.In the shipping of the farm products, there developed a characteristic dual system. They ship apples to Tokyo market through cooperative system on the one hand, and they also sell apples and vegetables to local markets at San-no-he and Ken-yoshi as their own speculation on the other hand.Although in San-no-he area the average size of cultivated land is small, the majority of the farmers are exclusively engaged in farming, and this special form of shipment of their products is operated effectively to keep their farm economy.