Growing sound rice seedlings under organic management is of a great importance. However, little about how organic farmers grow rice seedlings are known. In addition, effects of management and environmental factors, such as growing environments (e.g. outdoor, green house), seeding, organic fertilizers and water management are hardly elucidated. The goals of the study were i) to evaluate the growth of rice seedlings grown by organic farmers and ii) to investigate effects of times (early and middle sowing dates) and rates (60, 100 and 140g seeds per mat) of seeding and types of fertilizers (3 organic and one inorganic fertilizers) on seedling growth. Twenty samples of the mat system and 5 samples of the pot system were collected from organic farms in Tohoku and Kanto regions. In the station experiment, effects of seeding times and rates and types of fertilizers (3 organic and one inorganic fertilizers) on seedling growth were evaluated. In the station experiment, root dry weight (DW) and shoot/root ratio were higher in seedlings grown with organic fertilizers than with an inorganic fertilizer. The ratio of shoot DW to plant length (S/ PL) that is an index of sound seedlings became higher as the seeding rate got lower. The S/PL ratio ranged 0.12-0.22 mg/mm in the mat system in the station experiment, while 0.17 and 0.31 mg/mm in the mat system and the pot system grown by organic farmers, respectively. Thus, sound seedling could be grown with lower seedling rates or the pot system through longer growing periods. Meanwhile, coefficients of variance (CV) were 10%, 34%, and 50% in plant length, shoot and root DW of the mat system grown in the station experiment, but 42%, 39, and 51% of the mat system grown by organic farmers. This suggests the growth of rice seedlings varied substantially depending on farmers, and experimental factors that were not tested in the station experiment may caused the variability in plant length.

A field study was conducted to examine the effect of ridge-forming tillage on soil temperature, moisture, and the emergence of Monochoria Vaginalis seedlings in organic paddy rice field. The soil temperature in ridge-forming tillage (RFT) plots was lower than in conventional tillage (CT) plots mainly when the field was covered with snow. The soil moisture content in RFT plots was 2 to 7% lower than in CT plots. The number of emerged Monochoria Vaginalis in RFT plots was about a quarter of those in CT plots.

Furthermore, seeds of Monochoria Vaginalis were buried in soil at two temperatures and three rates of soil moisture content for three months, and emergence rates were examined in a growth chamber. At 10 °C of soil temperature, the cumulative rate of emergence of buried seed was 78.3% at 35% of soil moisture content, but was 40.7 and 38.7% at 29 and 21% of soil moisture content, respectively. At 25°C , it was 92.3 and 93.7% at 35 and 29% of soil moisture content, respectively, but was 38.7% at 21% of soil moisture content. Those were suggested that soil moisture condition is related with inhibition of germination of Monochoria Vaginalis.

While aiming at an equal relationship of producer-consumer, TEIKEI has continued to work for more than 30 years as a form of practice of Organic Agriculture Movements. TEIKEI has not overcoming the relationship between the consumer and the supplier, because of the nature of as a social movement seeking safe food. Then fallen into competition with other operators as a distribution channel of safe food, TEIKEI are facing the sharp decrease of the number of participants, such as the dissolution of the participating organizations. At the stage of immature products as organic produce, it is capable of as a product distribution is as demonstrated by conventional phenomenon seen in Europe and Japan if the current mature.

On the other hand, in contrast to the stagnation of TEIKEI in Japan, CSA has spread on the origin in the United States, in Europe and the United States has shown a considerable extent. Comparing to the transformation of TEIKEI and ACP in the practice and philosophy of both following the principles of TEIKEI, we can see the possibility of CSA and the outlook of partnership between producers and consumers in the future.

In the direct dealings of organic agricultural products, there are sets of products that are periodically sold to specified consumers. In these dealings, farmers select the vegetables in a set according to the harvest at that time. In this paper, I refer to such sales as “dealings of a vegetable set.” In organic agriculture, the method of delivering a vegetable set is an important factor for continuity in the relationship between farmers and consumers. In this regard, “delivery to consumers’ bases” (consumers near the base receive vegetables on the base) and “door-to-door delivery” through farmers’ transport are problematic because the need for transportation is a burden. Studies in this field have not examined the reasons underlying the selection of delivery methods by farmers. Hence, this paper analyzes the reasons for the selection of diverse methods for delivery of organic vegetable sets, through an investigation targeting farmers in urban areas.

The subjects of this investigation were nine farmers located in the Kanagawa prefecture who deal in organic vegetables sets. Our findings are as follows:

(1) Farmers want to select “delivery to consumers’ bases” because the need for transportation is a smaller burden than “door-to-door delivery”. However, recently, consumers tend to reject the former method. Thus, with the exception of limited cases in which consumers accept this method, farmers are not free to select “delivery to consumers’ bases”.

(2) It seems that in cases where they recognize the merits of meeting consumers (for example, to be able to converse with consumers), which tends to balance the burden of delivery, farmers select “door-to-door delivery” by farmers’ transport.

(3) It seems that farmers positively select the “home delivery service” method (that dose not rely on either farmers or consumers), if they consider the burden of delivery too heavy. However, in case farmers do not consider the burden heavy and consider continuity of the relationship with consumers important, or if consumers agree to pay the postage, farmers passively select the “home delivery service” method, accepting the consumers’ selection.

(4) It seems that farmers can select the method of “delivery on a farm” in the limited cases where consumers live in close proximity to the farm or want to avoid paying postage.