Dear Colleagues,

With apologies for cross-posting, we are pleased to announce the publication of our book, /Betting on the Farm: Institutional Change in Japanese Agriculture/, by Cornell University Press.

/Betting on the Farm /explains variations in institutional change within Japan Agricultural Cooperatives (JA), the nationwide network of farm co-ops that has dominated the Japanese agricultural landscape since the mid-20^th century. JA's tradition-bound organizations are under increasing economic and demographic pressure to expand farmer incomes by adapting co-op strategies to rapidly changing market incentives, but some local co-ops are adapting more effectively than others. Drawing on insights from historical institutionalism and institutional economics, we ultimately attribute these variations to three sets of local variables: the co-op's capacity to produce products that can earn good prices in today's markets; the quality of co-op leadership; and the appropriate organization of farmer-members behind new co-op strategies. We support these claims with a mix of quantitative and especially qualitative methodologies, including in-depth case studies of individual co-ops and farmers. Along the way we explore a number of themes, including the evolution of the formal and informal institutional foundations of postwar agricultural production; the shifting electoral sources of JA's influence; the farm sector's ongoing economic and demographic crisis and the implications of that crisis for co-op reform; the diversification of farmers and its effects on farmer ties with the JA system; and ongoing pressures on JA to find a workable balance between adapting to freer markets, on the one hand, and its longstanding responsibility to contribute public goods to local farm communities, on the other hand. We also demonstrate how years of seemingly ineffective, small-scale policy changes have had a cumulative, transformative effect on both farmers and co-ops--so much so, we argue, that pressures for further agricultural reform will likely intensify regardless of a particular government's position on reform.

/Betting on the Farm/is available for purchase from Cornell University Press and Amazon in both hardcover and ebook form.

https://www.cornellpress.cornell.edu/book/9781501762130/betting-on-the-farm/#bookTabs=1 <https://www.cornellpress.cornell.edu/book/9781501762130/betting-on-the-farm/#bookTabs=1>

For residents of Japan: *getbook.at/bettingonthefarm <https://nam12.safelinks.protection.outlook.com/?url=http%3A%2F%2Fgetbook.at%2Fbettingonthefarm&data=04%7C01%7C%7Cabe62ec4d747479739ea08da06963e90%7C31d7e2a5bdd8414e9e97bea998ebdfe1%7C0%7C0%7C637829539700322906%7CUnknown%7CTWFpbGZsb3d8eyJWIjoiMC4wLjAwMDAiLCJQIjoiV2luMzIiLCJBTiI6Ik1haWwiLCJXVCI6Mn0%3D%7C3000&sdata=%2Fe8oGJRaKBhdlsY1dTjVhL2ECh9rba1LrTpfwVCc2ww%3D&reserved=0>*

We thank you for your interest!

Patricia L. Maclachlan (University of Texas at Austin) and Kay Shimizu (University of Pittsburgh)