Economic analysis of cropping behavior and sustainable land use

In large scale upland farming area of eastern part Hokkaido, worsening economic conditions have put pressure on farmers to introduce root vegetables. As a result, the establishment of new types of crops including vegetables have emerged as a major theme in agricultural research there. The purpose of this paper was first to present a theoretical framework by introducing concepts of incentive compatibility and externality, concepts often used in public economics but not in this field yet. This will allow an analysis of economic conditions for sustainable cropping in vegetable- and field crop-producing areas. A second purpose was to clarify farming and local policy conditions which enable producers to maintain sustainable land use through an analysis focused on a radish-producing area of Tokachi