Proposal for a Method to Create Farmland Maps by Rural RMOs

In Japan, farmland has been managed at the village level. However, due to the population decline and aging in hilly and mountainous areas, rural RMOs (regional management organizations) are established as entities for large-scale farmland management. In recent years, open data such as polygons, representing farmland parcels, and farmland ledger data, describing the farming status of each parcel, have been open to the public. Some rural RMOs are using GIS to create farmland maps that show the current and projected agricultural land use. However, the data readiness and accuracy vary from region to region. Therefore, this study examined the possibility of creating farmland maps, using farmland polygons and farmland registers in six regions where rural RMOs are active. As a result, the study found that in some cases, it is difficult to create farmland maps because of data maintenance problems, management challenges arising from the complex farming relationships, and problems of information disclosure by municipalities. The study also found some discrepancies between regional plans by municipalities and farmland maps. To develop the resident-driven farmland plans, it is necessary for rural RMOs and municipalities to share farmland information.