The Embeddedness of Farmers Groups in Rural Areas : The Case of an Organic Farmers Group in Asan City

지역농업 추진주체의 형성 및 발전과정 -아산시 친환경농업 생산자 단체의 사례-

This study explores the development process of an farmers' group in Asan City that now plays an important role in the development of organic farming of the region. While increase in income in general may be one of main purposes making farmers join or form a group, the farmers group in Asan, instead, has tried to form a cooperative of local organic farmers. In doing so, they experienced a lot of difficulties and leant by trial and error. As a result, the farmers' group has recently developed in terms of business and organisational growth. The growth is not merely due to the growth of organic food markets but also due to the strong internal ties and trust that made possible to expand into food processing as well as to do social and cultural activities fur the rural residents. It implies that trust and cooperative identity between farmers should be the most important thing to be locally embedded farmers groups in a specific region.