Development of Small-Group-Farming : Sociological Study on Alternative way of Farming in Contemporary Japanese Rural Society

我们对山形县坂田市的农民情况进行了广泛的调查，并对北海道东部地区的农民集体学习活动进行了持续深入的个案研究。我们发现，无论是在耕作策略上，还是在家庭生活中，在他们的人生观、自然观、农学观、社区观上都存在着一些不同的取向，这些取向在当代自由市场环境中呈现出显著的多样性，并通过农民的学习过程和各个地区的历史语境自觉地实现。

We made an extensive investigation on farmers'situation in Sakata city, Yamagata Prefecture, and a continuous intensive case study by participant observation on farmers' activity of collective learning in eastern area of Hokkaido. We found some different orientations not only in strategy of farming but also in family life as well as their philosophy on life, nature, agriculture, and community, and that these orientations are diversified remarkably in the contemporary free market situation and consciously realized through the farmers' learning process and the historical context of it in each area.