EarthNews
Hands That Feed, 3 Days to Make-or-Break Haiti’s True Story
Jul 31st, 2010
Posts Tagged ‘agriculture’
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Haiti is an amazing test case of the risks and failures of the global food economy. Yet most recovery funding is being guided toward the same failed models of the past. Hands That Feed is a non-profit documentary that explores Haiti’s agricultural collapse, its role in the post-quake crisis, and the alternative, grassroots sustainable agriculture-based recovery models that seek to restore Haiti’s food supply and environment. There are 3 days remaining for the public to decide whether this film is made. (more…)
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A pot of marmalade bubbles away on the stove filling the apartment with a bright tangy smell this morning. We helped prepare the eggplant field for planting later this month on a nearby farm, and one of our take-home prizes was a big bag of mikan. (As was a lovely bamboo shoot, a.k.a. takenoko.) Bright and round these are some of the last ones for the year, but like yuzu their timeliness and tastiness are something any locavore adores.
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The "Enola" yellow bean variety that has been at the centre of a decade-long biopiracy case. Photo: Neil Palmer (CIAT). Creative Commons License. Please credit accordingly.
In a world’s first, a patent used for a popular cough medicine that had been granted for a South African plant was revoked. According to the African Centre for Biosafety (ACB), this is the first case where a patent has been successfully challenged by Africans.
Although you may never have heard of it, Biopiracy may be coming to your shores sometime soon. With the United Nations COP10 conference on biodiversity in Nagoya coming up in October this year, now is a good time to familiarize yourself with this increasingly heated topic of debate. (more…)
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A typical stand waiting for the seasons bounty.
If you can’t make it to one of the farmer’s markets or your everyday garden is at an in-between stage, pull out one of the best local food finds yet and hop on a bike. It’s a handy little local farm map from the JA (Japan Agriculture) office that helps avoid some of that unnecessary packaging. (more…)
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Having small kids in a big city like Tokyo must be difficult, with so little “real” nature where they can play and enjoy wild things. I can’t imagine how parents manage…
Yesterday I had the great fortune to visit KEEP in Kiyosato, Yamanashi prefecture. It is just a couple of hours on the train from Shinjuku and there are places to stay. What’s so great about KEEP, and why should you bring your kids? (more…)
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As a recent vacation approached we found ourselves at a loss for what to do. Too short for a meaningful trip home but too long for milling about Tokyo, we searched for ideas. Even though we’ve been here almost a year, there is still so much of Japan that we want to explore and experience. How to choose? Finally, we found an answer – WWOOF!
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Forest Milk: Winner Good Design Award 2009
Have you checked out the 2009 Good Design Award recipients yet?
Amongst eco-friendly products such as the Toyota Prius, Honda Insight, and Ene-farm Fuel Cell systems, greenz.jp noticed a bottle of ‘forest milk’ by Amita Corporation. Forest milk is produced through forest farming, a technique developed to add extra value to plantation forests. The milk from cows living in these forests has been chosen for the best package design award. (more…)
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Ah, a new wave is approaching. That’s what I realized when I picked up the inaugural issue of the new Agricultural Magazine ‘Agrizm’.
The inaugural edition of the ‘farm/communication magazine that brings agriculture closer’ hit the shelves in September. The phrase ‘Hey Japan, The Farming Boom is Here’ cries out from the cover. (more…)
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Photo by Millennium CityGlass walls, a large kitchen and dining room inside, and a ladder leading up to a small wooden house…
This is ‘Kurimoto Millennium City’, created by the NPO Millennium City on 1650 m2 of land in Katori, Chiba Prefecture. The facility is multi-layered, with tall deciduous trees, greenhouses, and huts making for energy efficient architecture. The large deciduous trees help control the temperature, blocking the hot sun in summer, and holding the sun’s warmth in winter. The glass greenhouse protects against rain and wind, while the huts provide privacy, and are easily heated thanks to their small size.
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SustainableCommunity
Green Drinks Tokyo Report. Agriculture 2.0: The Green Finger Revolution
Nov 13th, 2009
greenz.jp hosts the monthly gathering Green Drinks Tokyo.
The October edition was moved from the usual Gotanda to EAT TOKYO in Ebisu, and went off with a bang.
Despite the 18th typhoon of the season having just swept through Tokyo, the venue was filled to capacity, making for yet another enjoyable night.The theme for October was ‘Agriculture 2.0’
With the various guest speakers enthusing about the future of agriculture in Japan, their unique projects got the attention they deserve.#Guest speakers
Masaru Saito (PRECOOK, EAT TOKYO)Yusuke Tanaka (Farmer’s Market)
Kohei Ishida (Noryoku-mura) + Tom Kawada from AR3（AR3）
Yoshihisa Haruyama (Trace, Inc)
Haruyama, who uses IT to resolve social issues surrounding food and agriculture, introduced a new endeavor during the event.
The audience was all ears listening to the innovative idea to ‘increase vegetable consumption’.
Ishida introduces individual farmers through the website ‘Noryoku-mura’, and also leases rice paddies in 10mX10m units called ‘are’.
This new service should bridge the gap between producer and consumer, and has the backing of the AR3 Brothers.
Tanaka has been facilitating communication between the city and agriculture through Farmer’s Markets held regularly in Omotesando, Aoyama in the central city. The project started after ‘realizing the danger of city life where money can buy anything’. This steadily growing movement is one to watch in the future!
#Green Drinkers
Did you know that Green Drinks is held in over 400 cities across the globe?
greenz.jp is the official organizer for Green Drinks Tokyo.
This time we met a couple that had come all the way from San Francisco. They had been to Green Drinks in San Francisco, but said ‘Green Drinks Tokyo is more fun’! It seems as though they enjoyed the unique ‘Tokyo’ style, with a set theme and guest speakers.
‘It’s great to be able to learn something new’ she said merrily, as people gathered around her to talk. Here is their blog. Green Drinks is a connection to the world, with a surprising amount of participants speaking good English. What a great atmosphere. Let’s hope more international participants come in the future!#The Food
Green Drinks Tokyo chef Masaru Saito has a way with organic food, tantalizing taste buds and satisfying stomachs. One participant lamented that ‘the food smelled so good, I couldn’t concentrate on the talk’, and I must say, I have to agree. The theme for the food was ‘Autumn flavors 2.0’, in keeping with the theme Agriculture 2.0. Fresh food of the season crammed the tables.
Platter of chestnut, tomato, and fresh soybeans
Sanma in oil
Chili and tomato stew with chicken and vegetablesJust looking at the pictures makes your mouth water…
Check out the following slideshow for photos of the event.
Created with Admarket’s flickrSLiDR.The next Green Drinks Tokyo is scheduled for November 12.
Beautiful Canadian environmental activist Melanie Mullen will be present to speak on ‘Art & Redevelopment Downtown’.Don’t miss it!
This article is translated from the original Japanese post
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GreenBusiness
Food Shops Supporting Local Farming: Great Ideas For Japan’s Sustainability
Oct 24th, 2009
In Nishi-Waseda, a university town in central Tokyo, I had many opportunities to talk to Hirokazu Yasui. He runs a small food shop called Kodawari-Shoten, and he has plans to expand his thriving specialty shop where customers mostly find foods produced in Motegi Village, and other rural regions of Tochigi Prefecture. There are plenty of large photographs on the shop walls, as Yasui-san believes in giving farmers opportunities to introduce their harvest to Tokyo customers.
Yasui-san hopes the entire street will become a Mecca for organic restaurants and student cafes, perhaps with cooking classes and other activities for the locals to meet and get to know Waseda’s increasing number of foreign students. His father sits in a corner and nods in support of these novel ideas that would have been unthinkable a generation ago. The elder Yasui-san is a politician who just lost his seat on the town council as his party, the Liberal Democrats, got rooted out all over the country in the elections on August 30.
Yasui-san shows me a pack of eggs from a farm that proudly points out how the free-range hens are fed only domestically produced, non-genetically modified feed, including wheat, clover, mint and other herbs “for flavor.” The website for these eggs go into some detail in explaining how the farm raises its chicken, in stark contrast to Japan’s older and much larger industrial egg producers.
Yasui-san was recently featured in Japan’s Agriculture Newspaper, but prefers using his blog to introduce good foods to customers, rather than spending money on expensive advertising. New on the agenda this year is a bus tour from Tokyo to Motegi, as customers expressed interest in seeing with their own eyes how the food is produced.
Farm stay
Farm visits are becoming a popular way for young parents in Japan’s crowded cities to introduce their children to nature. Kids in Tokyo or Osaka may see cows or pigs or get their hands and feet dirty on a farm for the first time only after a two or three hour journey to the countryside by train or car. Toziba’s Daizu Revolution is one such venture group with 23 partnership farms around Japan. People join Daizu Revolution by becoming co-owners of a partnership farm to grow soybeans. The size of the lot is different depending on the farm. One lot can be divided into 50 sections. People pay ¥5,000 ($50) to help farm the section, and at the end of the season, the harvest is divided 50 ways and everyone gets a share.
One such project is the Yukkuri-mura (literally “Slow Village” but founder Goto-sensei prefers to think of it as “Take Your Time Village”) in Aka Village, Fukuoka Prefecture, a joint project between Slow Business Company and Wind Farm.
“We believe that farming villages are reservoirs of learning and playing,” Goto-sensei explains. “For example, there are many types of bamboo growing in Aka Village. Bamboo is a very strong plant and unless we harvest bamboo shoots and take care of the forest, it can overwhelm other vegetation. So, to make use of our local bamboo, we make bamboo charcoal. We also have been learning about local mushrooms and their relationship with the local ecosystem from neighborhood people. There is still much learn from the land here in Yukkuri-mura.”
Goto-sensei welcomes visitors who are willing to help out on the local organic farms. They also have guests from other countries as part of World Wide Opportunities on Organic Farms, the international program that facilitates volunteer work in exchange for accommodation and meals. In May 2006, Wind Farm successfully opened Cafe Kurikindi here in Aka Village. The cafe serves organic coffee, a lunch plate with fresh organic ingredients, and a range of fair trade products. They also organize and host live music events and workshops.
Great ideas, great people.
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SustainableCommunity
Easy steps to grow your own food. “Tagayashi” is the new resource guide for novice gardeners.
Oct 19th, 2009
Creative Commons. Some Rights Reserved. Photo by yoheiyamashitaThere’s something different about fresh vegetables grown in the great outdoors. Once you try them, you won’t want to go back to greenhouse farmed supermarket veges. Here I’ll introduce an easy way to grow your own vegetables, in your own garden. And you can start right now by searching for a site near you on the internet.
Tagayashi’ (‘cultivate’) is an internet service that started in December last year that allows you to search farms and gardens all over the country. If you want to grow your own vegetables, but like most of us don’t have the space, then this could be the answer to your problems.
‘Tagayashi’, the national garden search siteThe service started as a way of utilizing disused farmland that is abundant in many areas, and is a great way to search for the perfect garden for you, to the conditions you desire. For example, if you put ‘Kyoto’ into the search engine, you will be rewarded with a google map showing all available gardens with prices, area available, and conditions of use. From there you can find somewhere with easy access from the train station, or maybe even somewhere surprisingly close to your home!
Searching for gardens in KyotoYou can also enter conditions to refine your search. If you want to start right away, choose ‘open gardens’, or if you want to spend more time considering, choose ‘planned gardens’. If you’re a novice gardener, you might want to choose ‘instructors available’ to help get you started. The easiest way to get started is with the help of an instructor. ‘My Farm’ operates gardens in the Kansai region with support for both farming methods and garden maintenance – ideal for the novice.
‘My Farm’ homepage, offering instruction and maintenance supportIf you don’t have the faintest idea about where to start, a ‘garden instructor’ can point you in the right direction. If you can’t tend to your garden regularly, don’t worry! The caretaker can look after your plot, so you can come when you can, be it weekly, or even just once a month, if that is all you can manage. This great system makes it easy for even the most novice gardener to get started without hassle, and the monthly fees, and wide range of options mean there is something for everyone.
Gardening has become a lot more accessible thanks to increased media coverage, and websites such as ‘Tagayashi’. Along with FOOD ACTION NIPPON, this service may provide the key to increasing food security in Japan. Realizing the joy of eating vegetables you’ve grown with your own hands may be a big step to improving the food situation in Japan.
So, what can you do? Get searching on ‘Tagayashi’, and see what comes up!This article is translated from the original Japanese post.
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ACEEE Map of State Energy Efficiency Scorecard ResultsAccording to the American Council for an Energy-Efficient Economy (ACEEE) survey (2008), California topped the list of US states in energy efficiency policy. With Oregon taking second place, and Washington coming in at number six, all three west coast states made the top 10.
Evaluation criteria include whether energy consumption is being kept in check, whether electricity demand is being met, whether measures against global warming are in place, and whether contribution to the energy security of the US is being made, amongst other things. A ‘US City Sustainability Ranking’ was also conducted by a ‘SustainLane’, a US portal site with around 100,000 members that serves as a guide to sustainable living. According to this research, the 2008 ranking put Portland (Oregon) in first, San Fransisco (California) second, and Seattle (Washington) third – the top three places all going to west coast cities as in the last survey in 2006.
SustainLane US City Ranking homepageThe city ranking criteria is based on 15 areas including urban planning, air and water quality, use of public transport, availability of housing, climate change and energy policy, and local agriculture. With two different surveys with different criteria both showing the west coast at the top of the list, it’s safe to say the west coast leads the US in terms of environmental sustainability.
So, what about Japan?
As previously covered by greenz, Brand Research Institute, Inc. has released an ‘Environmental Action Prefecture Ranking’.
Brand Research Institute Environmental Action Prefecture RankingAccording to this ranking, Nagano takes first place, with Kyoto and Tokyo in second and third respectively, leading one blogger to comment that the criteria are favorable to urban areas. For example Kochi, which has the dishonor of coming in last, is actually a major producer of many agricultural products such as Chinese chives, ginger, eggplant, capsicum, and shishito. However, this relationship with nature seems to be missing from the evaluation criteria.
The Chiba University Research Center on Public Affairs for Sustainable Welfare Society along with the Institute for Sustainable Energy Policies have set up a sustainable energy zone research group to run ‘Sustainable Energy Zones’. Here natural energy supply for 2007 has been surveyed in the Prefectural Ranking.
Sustainable Energy independence (2007)According to this, Oita comes in first with a natural energy independence rate of 31.4%, with Akita and Toyama following in second and third with 18.3% and 17.7% respectively. Looking down the list, Nagano, which topped the other ranking comes in at 29th place with 2.9% independence. Kyoto, second place in the other ranking is 41st here, with 1.0%, and Tokyo stands out at the bottom of the list with a natural energy independence rate of just 0.2%, highlighting the difference between the two surveys.
In addition, the Japan Research Institute conducts an Environmentally Friendly Municipality Ranking, and a group of 11 environmental NGOs have ranked municipalities on their environmental policies in the ‘Eco Capital Contest’. With the latest survey results from 2003 and 2006 respectively, the data is a little old, but the former has Mie in the top spot, with Tokyo and Shiga in second and third respectively, and the latter with Kitakyushu (Fukuoka) first, followed by Minamata (Kumamoto) and Shinshiro (Aichi) in second and third. Once again, there is little connection between the surveys.
This disparity in results may be simply because there is no single municipality that stands out in terms of environmental friendliness. However, it also leaves us hoping for not only a wider spread of environmental policies, but also better indicators to rate environmental friendliness.
This article is translated from the original Japanese post -
Photo by Akizuno JukuThe Ministry of Economy, Trade and Industry put the word out for progressive businesses in Japan, and compiled the top 55 ‘Social Businesses’.
A Social Business refers to an operating business that deals with such social issues as boosting local economies, the declining birthrate and aging population, the environment, and poverty.
While there is great hope that these businesses will provide stable and sustainable employment in the community while providing relief for social issues, awareness of these businesses is still not high. Businesses were picked up in each region in the hope of inspiring others to follow suit.
Let’s take a look at one of these social businesses, ‘Akizuno Juku’ run by Akizuno Garten Co.
Here members of the local community in Tanabe, Wakayama converted a disused school into ‘Akizuno Garten’ (see photo above) where you can try your hand at farming. Product development to promote local produce has also helped provide a sustainable boost for both the community and economy.
The reason this project was chosen was because the community members themselves have taken control to brighten up their town, and make it a more comfortable place to live. They were the first in the Kinki Region to receive the Emperors Cup in the Community Development division of the Agriculture, Forestry and Fisheries Festival in 1996. Consequently, communities from all over the country have been visiting and making inquiries to find out about ‘community development before municipal mergers’.
Activities focus on bringing the community together to discuss new business ideas and deal with issues that arise in daily life, and also managing and maintaining shared assets such as forests. These shared assets have been essential to the smooth running and development of the community.
The beauty of the Akizuno Juku is not simply the use of new ideas and things, but that it draws on the unique characteristics of the community it is rooted in. However Akizuno is also facing its own challenges. As a big mandarin producing region, it has suffered from the recent drop in prices, and new housing developments have changed interaction within the local populace. The real challenge may have just begun.
It’s great that the government is recognizing positive projects such as this. However just recognizing them has limited effect. Social businesses face issues such as the aging populace, and young people migrating to the city. While spreading awareness is important, more concrete plans need to be implemented to make a real difference.This article is translated from the original Japanese post
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Food and Farming Information Site VeGieeWe all want to eat good food.
And all farmers and restaurateurs want us to eat good food.
A new web community ‘VeGiee’ aims to bring these two ‘wants’ together. If you like eating, or are interested in food, then this is one site you’ve got to check out. So what exactly is it all about?
VeGiee is a web-based community bringing together people with an interest in food and farming. Anyone can become part of the community by signing up to be a member. The three types of membership are ‘regular’, ‘farmer’, and ‘food professional’ (those in the food and beverage industry, sales, research, or otherwise working or qualified to work in the food industry). These three groups share their unique views and information, creating an interactive community.
So what goes on at VeGiee?
If you want to find out what kind of people are taking part, check out the ‘farmer & food pro’ corner. You can access their profiles and blogs, which are all unique and interesting and give an insight into the love and passion they all pour into their farming and food.
Let’s take a look at the page of Terauchi Noen, a melon farmer from Furano in Hokkaido.
Below a simple profile and a few photos, you can find a blog that is updated regularly. Apart from feeling the love he pours into growing his melons, you get to meet his children and family, and get a peek into life on the farm. It’s exciting imagining the scenery in Hokkaido, and wondering how the melons are doing.
By getting to know the farmers, one also develops a fondness for their produce. I’m sure you’ll find a farmer that takes your fancy too.
If you’re more interested in eating than farming, you’d better visit the ‘fruit & vegetable dictionary’. Here you can find information on the history, nutrition, cooking and storing methods, along with a whole array of other useful information on all sorts of fruit and vegetables.
Being an avocado lover, I was surprised to find the following piece of information:
‘Avocados contain a toxic substance called persin, which is poisonous to some animals. Do not feed avocado to your pet.’
Phew! Lucky I don’t have a pet, otherwise I would likely have given it leftover avocado without a second thought. There is also other fun and interesting information that you wouldn’t find in an ordinary dictionary, for example ‘abogado’ (which sounds much like ‘avocado’) means ‘lawyer’ in Spanish…
However, most importantly there is information on the seasons for each vegetable, and the largest producing prefectures for fruit. Here one can gain important information to keep in mind when shopping.
I was under the impression that avocados weren’t grown in Japan, so it was to my surprise that I found an avocado farmer in Wakayama prefecture. While I always prefer to buy domestic produce where possible, I’d always bought Mexican avocados. Now I know that there are domestically grown ones, I’m going to try to track them down. Maybe there is some new information there for you too! Either way, it’s a great source of information on farming in Japan.
While VeGiee provides fun and useful information for the food novice like you and I, it is also an effective method of information exchange for farmers and food pros. I caught up with Takuya Kudo from Trace, inc. which manages VeGiee. He told me the idea for the website originally came from the desire to support farmers who were passionate about their work. Providing an opportunity for people from various backgrounds to come together and share information is a sure way to help farmers expand their sales. Realizing the potential for food professionals to find good ingredients, and for food lovers to get information, the community was set up in May this year.
So where to now for the fledgling VeGiee?
‘We plan to add a farmer supporter system where the public can support farmers, and receive their produce in return. Hopefully this will bring consumers and farmers together, and help the farmers.’
How wonderful to receive lovingly grown produce as payback! This is more than just a ‘virtual’ connection via the internet. I can’t wait to see this website really take off!This article is translated from the original Japanese post.
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SustainableCommunity
Green Collar Job? Cruising the streets of Tokyo on a cycle vegetable stand with Tokyo Design Flow
Sep 14th, 2009
Hey, this is Pero Yamamoto here! Each week I write a casual-style post about eco recommendations for the weekend. This week, I will report to you on my experience with an exciting vegetable stand!With a focus in Tokyo, we cover the situation surrounding design, and dispatch information of a free intellectual curiosity and with spirit of inquiry that tackles the questions of our day and age.
With those words begins, the awesome monthly free paper Tokyo Design Flow. It is published full of articles on art, culture, sustainability, and design related to its capital home, Tokyo. Not to mention, on the day it is published, the last Thursday of a month, the release is celebrated with a club event called Last Thursday. On the same night, they hold a mass-bike riding event in the city, so things get pretty heated up it seems. Also, twice a month, they are involved with a farmers’ market selling local farmers’ food and vegetables at Omotesando city’s stylish building GYRE.
Farmers’ Market @ GYRE (Photo by Yusuke Tanaka)Yusuke Tanaka, who manages the “Farmers’ Market @ GYRE,” one day said to me “We started selling vegetables by bicycle.” And with a “What!? That is awesome!” I immediately set of Omotesando and paid a visit to the bike.
When I arrived at the place, there was a really cool and strange bicycle waiting. It was made by the R Bicycle Group. It has 2 wheels in front with a large wooden box in the middle and one wheel in the back: a sort of backwards tricycle. The group is planning on selling the bicycles and is lending one to Tokyo Design Flow it seems. Right now, the bike sells tomatoes, egg plants, green peppers, and carrots. All the summer’s vegetables on parade. All the vegetables are organic and from the local Kanto region.
Right away, I bought some of Tanaka san’s tomatoes and bit in. Amazing! I ate up the tomatoes with the juice overflowing and dripping all over the concrete sidewalk. I didn’t imagine at all I would be eating tomatoes right on the street in the city. When I asked about it Tanaka san told me that farmers’ markets are also have street food kind of feeling and that there were often internationals who would buy veggies and fruit and eat them right there on the spot.
For a while, I stood there with Tanaka san and I san, the editor of the farming magazine Z, who came to interview Tanaka san about the bike, while Tanaka san yelled out “Need Fresh Vegetables?! Get ‘em here!” Then we moved down the street toward Omotesando station stopping here and there.
“How about some delicious organic vegetables?! We sell ‘em by bike!”
Young people passing giggle at at Tanaka san’s call and there are a few cold glances from some others, but you can feel the freshness of this new idea and curiosity for why Tanaka san is riding on a bike and selling vegetables.
En route, we pick up M san who collaborates on a bicycle magazine. The four of us continue selling vegetables, taking turns to ride the bike (thrusting the bike through hedges), juggling tomatoes, and deliciously eating them in front of the cart as a form of “selling through demonstration of actual eating” (although this was mostly just me). Leisurely, we continued forward to the next impromptu selling points.
With a “Yes, I am gonna use them in my shop. I need a bunch!” we sell more than 10 tomatoes at once. That is the kind of creative local flavor that Tokyo has.
After about 10 minutes, we took our leave and head for the front of the United Nations University. Here also, the tricycle guerrilla veggie stand is a big success with the older ladies. Within a short while, we were sold out.
When I think about it, although it was my first time selling vegetables, selling things can be a beautiful type of communication. I wonder how happy the people must be to know they are buying vegetables from a place where the people who are selling the vegetables know where and who they come from.
Also, this bike too, if it had a canopy attachment, could be use to do many more things than just selling vegetables. I think many people would be excited to see this and think of the new kind of working we can do.
I know if I was selling vegetables regularly, I would probably have to learn a lot of “manners” regarding street selling to do so, but this one experience was really exciting for me.
Photo by Yusuke TanakaAn article about this vegetable-selling bike also appears in the current issue of Tokyo Design Flow. With the theme of “Bikes making a new street level in Tokyo,” it is full of articles about interesting bikes. Of course, we are going to share those articles with you at greenz.jp too: next Thursday, July, 30th. There will be a lot of shops from Omotesando in so please check it out!
This article has been translated from the original Japanese post
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Imagine happening upon a cow as you strolled through the woods. Now, traditionally cows belong on farms, so this may seem a little odd to some people.
AMITA Corporation, a leading company in the environmental business, has focused recent efforts on the ‘forest’. This photo shows their new, bold attempt at raising cows in the forest – aptly named ‘Forest Farming’. What does AMITA see in the forest, and what are they trying to create there? Let’s take a closer look.
In this new style of dairy farming, cows are left to roam the forest 24 hours a day, 365 days a year. While helping to keep the forest maintained, income is raised through ‘Forest Milk’ and ‘Forest Ice Cream’ made from fresh cows milk.
So, why the forest?
What first got the attention of AMITA was the increasing issue of forests that had been neglected due to the slump in timber prices, and the aging forestry workforce. The ‘Forest Farming’ business began as an attempt to put into practice ‘Forest Dairy Farming’ techniques, where cows are used to manage the forest. Mismanaged forests are a nationwide issue, forcing local municipalities, such as in Osaka and Kagawa, to announce policies to deal with management of such forests. Unsustainable as plantations alone, the idea was to add extra value to these forests.
However, rather than pouring cash into maintaining the forest, a natural model has been created with the help of bio-mass electricity plants, a craft center, and cow shed based on the idea that there is ‘no waste in nature’. With the aid of local residents and other supporters, a business was formed while breathing new life into a neglected forest.
The natural cycle model at ‘Tango Forest Farm’So, how do the cows spend their days in the forest? Here is a photo of a cow passing time in the ‘Tango Forest Farm’, which opened in 2007.
The cow looks at peace with the world, resting in the shade of a tree. Strangely enough, forests and dairy farming don’t seem so incompatible after all. Here the cows can munch on as much vegetation as they care, walk where they like, and sleep where they fancy. Offspring are also bred and raised naturally. The cows live in a natural environment, as outlined in the ‘cow pledge’. Rather than being managed and ‘bred’ by humans, the cows ‘live’ their lives, somehow appearing stronger.
And how does the milk from these healthy mothers taste? Well, the ‘Milk of the Forest’, which is available for purchase, has a mild green tint to it due to the grasses and leaves the cow eats! You can enjoy the very essence of nature in every glass.
There are other merits to raising cows in the forest. They not only keep weeds in check, but their hooves stamp dead branches and leaves into the ground. Paths created by the cows allow people easy access to further maintain the forest. It seems as though cows and humans have each other in mind as they go about their business. This connection found in the forest gives validity to what AMITA calls ‘turning relationships into business’.
July 25 brings the long awaited opening of ‘Nasu Forest Farm’. Plans are in the works to build a café and camping area, developing scope to expand business to sightseeing and educational visits. There will be ice cream tasting on the opening day, so why not get your hiking boots on and head to Nasu? Details are available on the ‘Nasu Forest Farm Special Site’.
Future forest projects include ‘Forest Rice’, ‘Forest Grains’, and ‘Forest Vegetables’. What other ‘Forest …’ can you imagine? The potential is limitless.
Let’s take another look at the AMITA mission statement:
‘No event is isolated. All events are interdependently correlated…
We declare
Within the grand system of life, for humans to be recognized as able to exist mutually, we must make the realization of a sustainable society our top priority, and build new relationships by prioritizing the creation of sustainable closed loop systems.’
As long as there are things in this world that have become disconnected or isolated, or deemed wasteful, I’m sure AMITA will find a business model to connect them again. Maybe this is a process of returning life on earth to a state that existed before humans began breaking the connections.
AMITA, bringing ‘connectedness’ back to society through business.
Keep your eyes on this eco-business as it continues to show the way to a sustainable future.This article is translated from the original Japanese post.
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SustainableCommunity
Meet the Konohana Family, an agricultural collective at the Foot of Mt. Fuji, Shizuoka
Aug 5th, 2009
Lunch at Konohana Family, Isadon is facing the camera in a blue T-shirt. Photo by family member IsaoIn 1993, perhaps long before the term Eco Village came into popular usage in Japan, a middle aged interior designer and carpenter from Nagoya and several companions were asking themselves if there weren’t a better way to live than the extreme consumerism that was reflected in Japanese society at the time and still is today. The following year they purchased some property in the rural municipality of Fujinomiya, just south west of Mt. Fuji, and set about answering the question. While they are still at it today, they have found their answer and for them it is an unequivocal yes.
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Kitagawaen happy to be at the Tokyo Farmer’s Market
Apparently, a little sun can make a world of difference. I ventured down to the July Earth Day Market in Yoyogi Park to see what the market might be like dry. My first visit occurred in absolutely pouring rain, and I felt I didn’t get a fair impression. There were a good number of vendors then, and we still managed to spend a few happy hours eating and shopping.
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SustainableCommunity
Rice Planting in Shibuya? Look no further for the vanguard of the 21st Century !
Jun 22nd, 2009
Creative Commons. Some Rights Reserved. Photo by Wikimedia commons.
Rice-planting season is here. Machines do a lot of it nowadays, but there are still a great deal of people who know what it is like to get down and dirty planting rice. Experienced or not, would you believe me if I told you there was rice being planted in Shibuya?
![[30aHEADS]](http://greenz.jp/en/wp-content/themes/greenz_v2-1/banner/gfBanner_30aheads.gif)
