Impact of Rural Tourism Operated by Retiree Farmers on Multifunctionality: Evidence from Chiba, Japan

This paper examines the roles and significance of rural tourism activity undertaken by those farmers who have retired from non-farming jobs from a multifunctional perspective in Chiba, Japan. The results revealed that rural tourism activities by retirees could realize efficient and sustainable resource utilization of the farm and therefore enhance multifunctionality of agriculture. The main findings were the following. (1) The farming style of the study farm is small production of multiple products all year round, which increases opportunities for farming and farm-life experiences by local school children and urban visitors, although this type of farming was not respected from a productivity-oriented farming perspective. (2) Providing farming experience services makes it possible to utilize unused resources, including obsolete farming techniques, in the farmyard. (3) All of these activities promote multifunctionality not only in terms of environmental functions such as land preservation, landscape formation and biodiversity, but also cultural and social functions such as recreational and educational functions. These results indicate that multifunctionality is not in parallel with the low productivity of retiree farmers and that rural tourism will be an effective and recommended activity for those farm-oriented people who have retired from non-farming occupations.