Dynamics of Environmental Conservation Agriculture (ECA) Utilization among Fujioka Farmers in Japan with High Biodiversity Conservation Awareness but Low ECA Interest

Japan aims to be carbon-neutral by 2050 by targeting various sectors including agriculture. One of the main strategies in this sector to mitigate climate change effects is environmental conservation agriculture (ECA); however, ECA utilization remains low in most of Japan’s prefectures to this date. To address this problem and to know what factors influence ECA adoption, we collected data from Fujioka city, Gunma prefecture, which has low ECA utilization but has high biodiversity conservation efforts. Using factor analysis and binary logistic regression, two major themes emerged by which ECA continuation can be increased, namely: farmers’ intent to improve their local/global environment and to enhance their production. The study highlighted the importance of ECA information dissemination as evidenced by the presence of a knowledge gap on how ECA translates into climate change advocacies. The promotion of farmer-consumer market channels and extension of ECA products in local industries by government and non-government institutions are also recommended to strengthen rural-urban linkages in the area. Increasing the ECA uptake of farmers would also have a positive impact on the ongoing preservation of endangered yaritanago fish species in Fujioka. Lastly, the results from this study highlight the heterogeneity of factors that affect any given farming community with respect to the strategies that can effectively drive ECA adoption.