•GIs’ effect on farming maintenance examined on Uonuma rice production.•Case study made on Uonuma district in Niigata prefecture.•Positive effect seen on number of farm households and area of ...operated farmland.•Producing Uonuma rice made older farmers stay in their farmland.
Geographical indications (GIs), or signs on products indicating a region of origin, are expected to secure higher incomes and retain the rural population in less favored or remote areas. In this study, we examine the effect of GIs on the maintenance of farming using a case study on Uonuma rice, with region-of-origin labeling, produced only in the Uonuma district of Niigata prefecture in Japan. Although Uonuma rice is not yet an official GI, it qualifies in principle for GI registration under its long-standing reputation for quality and GI-like protection by the producer’s organization. We exploit a municipal merger in a district adjacent to Uonuma district as a natural experiment, in which a hitherto homogeneous region was split and one section became part of Uonuma district. Using detailed community-level panel data, we find that there is a positive effect on the number of farm households and the area of operated farmland in a rural community. Also, producing Uonuma rice led to older farmers continuing to farm due to higher rice prices. Meanwhile, we found no evidence that the adoption of Uonuma rice had a positive effect on the number of young farmers. This may make it difficult to maintain the rural community due to the aging of community members.
•Examines impact of women’s participation in farmland governance and preservation in Japan.•Apply quasi-experimental empirical methods to overcome endogeneity of women’s participation.•Higher ...proportion of women members leads to significantly greater improvements in preservation.
Women’s empowerment is considered vital for successful natural resource management. However, owing to the problem of reverse causality, previous empirical studies have uncovered little evidence that enhancing women’s presence in community institutions for natural resource management leads to resource preservation. This study explores the causal impact of women’s participation in farmland management governance in Japan on farmland preservation. In 2010, municipal agricultural committees managing farmland in Japan set the goal of having at least two women members in the executive committee (EC), the principal decision-making body. We use the timing of the election of EC members as an instrumental variable. Using panel data on agricultural committees from 2011 to 2015, the results show that agricultural committees with a high proportion of women members show significantly greater improvements in farmland preservation. This beneficial impact of women’s participation is likely attributable to not only the increased role of women in decision making, but also the increase in the meetings of EC members for in-house training.
► We investigate effect of ambient pressure. ► Contribution of premixed flame decreases as ambient pressure increases. ► Effect of change of ambient pressure is captured by flamelet model.
The effect ...of ambient pressure on spray flames is investigated by means of two-dimensional direct numerical simulation (DNS), and the validity of an extended flamelet/progress-variable approach (EFPV) is examined under the high-pressure condition. The DNS is performed not only for a simple jet spray flame with a pilot burner but also for a lifted recirculation spray flame without any pilot burner at ambient pressures of 0.1 and 0.5MPa. n-decane (C10H22) is used as liquid spray fuel, and the evaporating droplets’ motions are tracked by the Lagrangian method. The results show that the behaviors of jet and lifted recirculation spray flames are strongly affected by ambient pressure. The effects of the change of the ambient pressure on these spray flame behaviors can be well captured by EFPV and EFPV coupled with G-equation model (EFPV-G), respectively.
This study examines the impact of Japan’s participatory development projects, in which communities design proposals for farmland consolidation projects (FCPs), on community-level social capital. The ...analysis uses large-scale community data that include detailed information on social capital for 29,179 communities (of which 8,067 communities implemented the project and 21,112 did not). We provide propensity score matching estimates. The results reveal a positive impact on bonding social capital, although there is limited evidence of a negative effect on bridging social capital. Further, FCPs increase the number of community meetings held. Treated communities opt for governance that requires higher cooperative levels for irrigation management. Focusing on social ties outside the community, FCPs negatively affect holding direct sales of rice products among urban residents.
•Water user association attributes affect collective action in irrigation management.•Age and heterogeneity of farmers are associated with collective action.•Distance to market and paddy field traits ...are associated with collective action.•Group size and collective action have an inverted U-shaped relationship.•Social heterogeneity has an inverted U-shaped relationship with collective action.
We examine the characteristics of water user associations (WUAs) that affect the success of collective action for irrigation management. Using random-effects ordered probit models and a large panel dataset from 104,523 rural communities, the results of the econometric analysis verify the hypotheses in the existing empirical literature and confirm the robustness of the theory of collective action in the context of irrigation management. Our results show that collective action for irrigation management depends on the distance from the market, area of paddy field, share of non-farmers and elderly farmers, share of paddy field, and social capital. We also find that collective action has an inverted U-shaped relationship with the number of farm households and diversity in farmers’ landholdings, and a U-shaped relationship with the diversity of a community’s farmers. The results suggest that as the characteristics of irrigation systems and user groups can change little in the short run, policies aimed at suppressing deteriorating collective action for irrigation management need to enhance social ties in a community, thereby promoting community-level social capital.
Abstract
We examine the effect of direct payments in less-favoured areas (LFAs) on agricultural land use and farm numbers in Japan, using community-level panel data. Direct payments, which take a ...unique form in Japan, are made to rural communities that have sloping farmland and are designated as ‘less-favoured’. We exploit whether a community is located in a designated area as an instrument for receipt of direct payments. Our instrumental variable estimates find that, although LFA payments fostered continued land use and prevented farmland abandonment through maintenance of farm households and household members, these effects are modest.
This study examines how consumers’ hometown orientation affects their preferences for food products. Regarding food products, consumers may prefer products from their hometown over those produced in ...other domestic areas, among other factors. We consider that due to population migration, a consumers’ current or local place of residence may not necessarily be their hometown. After defining the hometown effect with a framework of consumer willingness to pay, we apply a double-bounded dichotomous choice contingent valuation method to value the hometown effect on a rice product, based on a consumer survey conducted in Japan. This study reveals that consumers’ hometown orientation significantly affects their preferences for the rice product produced in their hometown. The magnitude of the hometown effect for the product is estimated at 48 JPY (0.44 USD) per kg in terms of consumer willingness to pay. The premium rate of the hometown effect compared with the price of the base product is 12.4%. Food labels indicating more detailed region of origin information could be a potential marketing strategy to appeal to consumers from that region but currently living in other areas.
This study examines how consumers’ hometown orientation affects their preferences for food products. Regarding food products, consumers may prefer products from their hometown over those produced in ...other domestic areas, among other factors. We consider that due to population migration, a consumers’ current or local place of residence may not necessarily be their hometown. After defining the hometown effect with a framework of consumer willingness to pay, we apply a double-bounded dichotomous choice contingent valuation method to value the hometown effect on a rice product, based on a consumer survey conducted in Japan. This study reveals that consumers’ hometown orientation significantly affects their preferences for the rice product produced in their hometown. The magnitude of the hometown effect for the product is estimated at 48 JPY (0.44 USD) per kg in terms of consumer willingness to pay. The premium rate of the hometown effect compared with the price of the base product is 12.4%. Food labels indicating more detailed region of origin information could be a potential marketing strategy to appeal to consumers from that region but currently living in other areas.
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