Mergers of Community Farming through Absorption, Coexistence, and Assimilation: A Case Study of the Hokuriku Region

We examined the merger of rural agricultural organizations, with a focus on community farming. The merger of community farming was studied from three perspectives. One was the absorption of community farming, the second was coexistence with community farming, and the last was assimilation. In the case of absorption, small numbers of core employees can be given charge of managing the hire of organization members, thus maximizing profit by mobilizing rural resources efficiently. However, other members can be unwilling to serve their contribution, because most of them prefer to rent their farms to the organization and retire from farming. Coexistence tends simply to delay the problems of absorption by putting them on the back-burner. In the case of assimilation of community farming, mergers can occur without creating any of the above-mentioned problems. In one example in our research, new projects involving multilateralization and corporate social responsibility were initiated. These new businesses can enhance members' awareness of their ability to contribute to the organization by becoming involved in projects.