著者

白井 泉

出版者

日本農業史学会

雑誌

農業史研究 (ISSN:13475614)

巻号頁・発行日

vol.50, pp.47-60, 2016

---

In modern era, the northeast Japan was considered a developing area and had relatively low economicand health standards, especially in the 1930s. However, within this area, the Tsugaru region of AomoriPrefecture accounted for the highest apple production in Japan since the 1900s, and seemed to enjoy richnesscompared to the other regions of the prefecture even in the 1930s. The purpose of this study is to analyze whythe peasants of Tsugaru region chose to cultivate apples, how they produced apples alongside rice despite thefact that these goods' busy harvest season come at the same time, and what impact their faming managementhad on their living standards over time. The analysis reveals the following. (1) In Tsugaru region, peasantsbegan to introduce the cultivation of apples from the 1900s, but this was done as a workaround; for thesepeasants, the most attractive crop was rice because it was more profitable than apples in the 1910s and 1920sand peasants could sell, store, and eat it. Some peasants purchased active paddy fields after becoming richfrom apple cultivation. (2) Apple growers adopted labor-intensive technologies to make apples red in responseto consumer preferences and to thereby increase their revenues. Although part of the labor force during thebusy season was attracted from outside the prefecture by the offer of high wages, the labor quantity of peasantmen and women increased due to the farming of these multiple crops. (3) There is a possibility that such laborenvironment raised the infant mortality rate, which is an index of mothers' and children's health, but the regionexperienced rapid economic development and, in the 1930s, a total production value per household that wasclose to the national average. This means that although the multiple farming of rice and apple increased thelabor burden on peasants, it led to the economic development of the region.