Classification and Creation of Internal Leaders in Group Farming

Nowadays, agriculture and farm villages have already lost their homogeneity in passing through the period of radical economic growth and consist of heterogeneous farming households. Accordingly, for a structural reform by combining regional agriculture into an organization, it is essential to think about those measures as to resolve positively conflicting interests of farmers in collectivigation and collaboration and persuade them to arrive at a consensus among them. In this process, those who can perform a function of consensus formation and lead to a consensus are leaders, and the role of an internal leader who is acting as a leader in an organization is extremely important among others. These internal leaders can be classified into 2 types according to the case of the group farming in Yamaguchi Prefecture. Namely, one of these types of internal leaders is that of a leader who particinates in organizing activities by performing management work of the organization's business activities and plays a role solely of an informant and coordinator of various interests in the organization. Another type is that of a legder who is engaged exclusively in agriculture himself and plays not only a role of the person responsible for personnel affairs of the organization but also a role of a coordinator in it by performing management work of its business activities. The former can be defined a ”seniortype leader” and the latter a ”full-time farm household-type leader.” These types of internal leaders can be understood to be defined strongly by characteristics of individual regional agricultural structure in view of the formation and fixation of each type.

Group farming

internal leader

consensus