Contract farming - Ukeoi Kosaku

A form of land use in which a landowner entrusts the cultivation of crops for the entire growing season to another management entity, paying a fixed fee (contract fee) in return. However, contract cultivation also refers to a de facto lease (so-called illegal tenancy) in which the landowner has another management entity cultivate the land in exchange for a tenancy fee without obtaining the permission stipulated in the Agricultural Land Act (Act No. 229 of 1952). The former is the original contract cultivation, and the latter is called lease-type contract cultivation, but in either form, the landowner is called the entruster and the cultivator is called the trustee. In addition, entrusting part of the farm work to another entity is called work contracting.

Contract farming under lease has been increasing since 1965, with the progress of part-time work and mechanization. Part-time farmers who could no longer farm due to lack of labor began to entrust farming to full-time farmers who wanted to expand the scale of their farming to make efficient use of machinery and utilize family labor. In such cases, contract farming is used instead of formal lease under the Agricultural Land Law, because the landowner fears that the cultivation rights will be strengthened. Therefore, the rights of the farmer in contract farming are weak, the contract can be terminated at any time at the landowner's discretion, and the rent is generally high. However, through contract farming, the farmer receives labor compensation comparable to that of other industries in the area, and there is no personal relationship of subordination between the landowner and the farmer, as there was before the Second World War.

The government noticed that this contract farming was increasing nationwide, which led to the liquidity of farmland and a large expansion of the scale of some farming operations. In 1975, they weakened the cultivation rights by creating new rights to farmland leases (rights of use) that allowed leases to be terminated without permission when the term expired, allowing landowners to rent out their land with peace of mind without having to use contract farming, and in 1980 they enacted the Agricultural Land Utilization Promotion Act (Act No. 65 of 1980, completely revised in 1993 to become the Agricultural Management Foundation Strengthening Promotion Act) to promote the liquidity of farmland based on rights of use. As a result, contract farming decreased, and now leasing based on rights of use is the norm.

[Junichi Sakai]

Source: Shogakukan Encyclopedia Nipponica About Encyclopedia Nipponica Information | Legend

土地所有者が作物の全栽培期間にわたる耕作を他の経営体に委託し、その代償として一定額の料金（委託料）を支払う土地利用形態。ただし、土地所有者が農地法（昭和27年法律229号）に規定された許可を得ずに小作料を受け取って他の経営体に耕作させる実質的な賃貸借（いわゆるヤミ小作）も、請負耕作とよんでいる。前者が本来の請負耕作であり、後者は賃貸借型の請負耕作というが、いずれの形態でも、土地所有者は委託者、耕作者は受託者とよばれる。なお、農作業の一部を他に委託するのは作業請負とよばれる。

　賃貸借型請負耕作は、兼業化、機械化の進展のなかで1965年（昭和40）以降増加してきた。労力不足で耕作ができなくなった兼業農家が、機械の効率的利用や家族労力の活用のために規模拡大を望む専業農家などに、耕作を委託するようになったのである。その際、農地法を通じた正規の賃貸借とせずに請負耕作にするのは、耕作権の強化を恐れる土地所有者の意向からである。したがって、請負耕作における耕作者の権利は弱く、土地所有者の意向によっていつでも契約は解除され、小作料も一般に高率高額である。しかし、耕作者は請負耕作によって地域の他産業労賃並みの労働報酬を得ており、土地所有者と耕作者との間には第二次世界大戦前の地主・小作関係のような人格的従属関係はない。

　この請負耕作が全国的に増加し、それを通じて農地流動化が進み、一部の経営が大きく規模拡大していることに着目した政府は、1975年から、期限がきたら許可なしで貸借を終了できる農地賃貸借の権利（利用権）を新設して耕作権を弱め、請負耕作という形をとらなくとも土地所有者が安心して土地を貸せるようにし、1980年には農用地利用増進法（昭和55年法律65号。1993年に全面改正され、農業経営基盤強化促進法となる）を制定して利用権に基づく農地流動化の促進を図ることにした。その結果請負耕作は減少し、現在は利用権に基づく賃貸借が主となっている。

［酒井惇一］

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