Japan Agricultural Cooperatives (JA), a nationwide network of farm cooperatives, is under increasing pressure to expand farmer incomes by adapting coop strategies to changing market incentives. Some coops have adapted more successfully than others. In Betting on the Farm, Patricia L. Maclachlan and Kay Shimizu attribute these differences to three sets of local variables: resource endowments and product-specific market conditions, coop leadership, and the organization of farmer-members behind new coop strategies.

Presentation

Book talk with Patricia L. Maclachlan, Professor and Co-author of the book (Department of Government, The University of Texas at Austin)

Japan Agricultural Cooperatives (JA), a nationwide network of farm cooperatives, is under increasing pressure to expand farmer incomes by adapting coop strategies to changing market incentives. Some coops have adapted more successfully than others. In Betting on the Farm, Patricia L. Maclachlan and Kay Shimizu attribute these differences to three sets of local variables: resource endowments and product-specific market conditions, coop leadership, and the organization of farmer-members behind new coop strategies. Using in-depth case studies and profiles of different types of farmers, Betting on the Farm also explores the evolution of the formal and informal institutional foundations of postwar agriculture; the electoral sources of JA's influence; the interactive effects of economic liberalization and demographic pressures (an aging farm population and acute shortage of farm successors) on the propensity for change within the farm sector; and the diversification of Japan's traditional farm households and the implications for farmer ties with JA.

• Discussants: Yves Tiberghien (The University of British Columbia), Hugh Whittaker (University of Oxford)
• Chair: Arnaud Grivaud (Université Paris Cité)

Practical information

• 11 July 2022 | 18.30 - 20.30 (Paris time)
• Onsite and online - In English
• Room 481C, Grands Moulins building, Université Paris Cité, 5 rue Thomas Mann 75013 Paris (France)
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• Inscription obligatoire