Abstract
The growing concern for sustainability in agri-food systems and the parallel decrease in the number of people engaged in agriculture, especially in the Global North, is starting to draw attention to new entrant farmers from non-farming backgrounds (“newcomer” farmers). Newcomers, however, especially if interested in sustainable agriculture, face considerable barriers to entry, and their support needs are often not adequately met by conventional agricultural institutions and support structures. Several studies have highlighted the importance of formal and informal farmer-to-farmer networks and communities of practice for newcomers to receive support, but such networks are usually geographically dispersed. Dynamics of spatial clustering of sustainable farmers, on the other hand, have so far received less attention, particularly in relation to their role in supporting the establishment of newcomers. This study examines the barriers to entry faced by newcomer organic farmers in Japan and the relevance of geographically proximate “clusters” of organic farmers to address such barriers. The results highlight the environmental and social factors that can facilitate the formation of organic clusters in the first place, and how spatial proximity facilitates different forms of cooperation among newcomers. The paper concludes by discussing the potential role of clusters in scaling sustainable agri-food practices.
Highlights
The unsustainability of current agricultural practices and dominant agri-food system configurations is a central issue in relation to climate change, ecological degradation, and growing socio-economic inequalities at both global and local levels [1,2,3,4]
A way to conceptualize this transformation, for example, is represented by Gliessman’s [8] levels of food system change. This and similar approaches discussed in the literature emphasize the continued importance of diversified and locally embedded farming systems for sustainability transitions [9,10,11], on the account that they are both more sustainable and more productive than large-scale, monocultural farming operations [12,13,14,15,16]. The drawback of this kind of farming systems is that they are more knowledge- and labour- intensive compared to conventional ones; as such, their expansion will likely require an increase in the number of farmers committed to this vision of sustainability [17]
This study focuses on organic farming clusters in Japan and their role in addressing the challenges faced by newcomer sustainable farmers
Summary
The unsustainability of current agricultural practices and dominant agri-food system configurations is a central issue in relation to climate change, ecological degradation, and growing socio-economic inequalities at both global and local levels [1,2,3,4]. This and similar approaches discussed in the literature emphasize the continued importance of diversified and locally embedded farming systems for sustainability transitions [9,10,11], on the account that they are both more sustainable and more productive than large-scale, monocultural farming operations [12,13,14,15,16] The drawback of this kind of farming systems is that they are more knowledge- and labour- intensive compared to conventional ones; as such, their expansion will likely require an increase in the number of farmers committed to this vision of sustainability [17]. This task is further complicated by decreasing rates of generational transmission, especially in small-scale farming, which is focusing attention on the need to nurture a generation of farmers able to respond to the multiple challenges facing agri-food systems [17,18,19,20,21,22]
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