This study analyzed the recognition of local residents surrounding farmland conversion area. The details of the survey on the residents included recognition of farmland conversion, the usage and reason of farmland conversion in the surrounding area, impacts of farmland conversion on the local region and agricultural production, and change in farmland prices. According to the analysis, the aging of the local residents progressed, and the ratio of farming population was high in the case study area. There were many warehouse facilities and small scale factories in terms of farmland conversion in the case study area, due to the surrounding area characteristics of industrial complex and relatively cheaper land prices. The farmland conversion affected the local area and residents both positively and negatively, and the surrounding area's land prices rose. The policy implications, based on the findings in this study, indicate the following need to be carried out: the consolidation of action on farmland pollution upon farmland conversion, review of planned collective conversion mode, and return of the land price hike profits to the affected local area and residents. Actually, farmland conversion should be conducted, after a comprehensive and systematic review, because it affects the local area and residents in a complex way.

As a pre-step research to make land-use planning in the region level, this study aims to analyze some probability pattern representing transition probabilities from farmland to others using the sequential detailed digital land-use maps. Kinki and Chubu regions of Japan, which have Osaka and Nagoya cities as their center places respectively, were selected as test regions in this study. The 10m grid land-use maps for four time series at every 5 year from 1977 to 1992 were used. In this study, the regions were divided into three sub-areas 10km, 20km, and 30km according to distance from center cities, respectively. The correlation coefficient (CC) between sub-areas with same distance in the two regions was calculated to analyze whether or not the two regions have common points in the pattern of land-use conversion probability from farmland to other types. The probability distribution of the converted areas which were moved to the urbanized area (residential, commercial, industrial, road, park and public facility areas) was about 40~70% for both all periods and sub-areas. According to distance from city centers, the probability moved to the urbanized area was about 60% at 10km area, and 40% at the 30km area, which means that the values we decreased gradually, while in the case moved to the forest and the etc areas, the values were increased slightly. The CC analysis from the paddy field and the dry field to the others separately showed that there is high correlation in the probability pattern between the two regions.