Today I visited JA Hakui, the branch of the national agricultural cooperative in the city of Hakui, which is located at the base of the Noto peninsula. JA Hakui has a project to make its city the heartland (聖地) of natural cultivation (自然栽培), through supporting farmers and aspiring farmers who want to grow food more sustainably. Natural cultivation is a growing method that avoids the use of all artificial fertilizers, pesticides, and herbicides, and the version of this method that is promoted by JA Hakui was developed by the apple farmer, Akinori Kimura. The cornerstone of Kimura’s farming method is building rich, nutrient-dense soil, which will in turn lead to nutrient rich foods.
Nationally, JA is known as an organization that promotes the use of agrichemicals, which may at first seem at odds with the Hakui branch’s promotion of natural cultivation. However, as the average age of farmers hovers around 68 years-old, JA will be facing severe challenges as their members age and retire, and thus they have a great stake in helping cultivate the next generation of farmers. As JA Hakui’s section manager of finances, Masaaki Awaki-san explained, farmers using natural cultivation are part of this next generation. Since 2011, when the city hosted Akinori Kimura for a lecture series, JA Hakui has annually been offering a training course to teach the basics of natural farming cultivation. Participants in the course are often in their 20s and 30s and some even move to the city to start their own farming enterprises.
Not only does JA Hakui support natural cultivation through education, the cooperative also provide the infrastructure to process and sell the farm products graduates from their course produce. One of the main roles of JA nationally is to buy, process, and sell rice that rice farmers grow. To accommodate the chemical free rice grown in their city, JA Hakui had an additional rice drying facility built specifically for naturally cultivated rice. This rice is served in school lunches and is offered as a gift through Furusato nouzei (ふるさと納税), a tax break system where people can donate to rural communities and receive local specialty products in return.
Awaki-san outside the “Hakui-style Natural farming Rice Center,” which houses the rice processing machinery.
Nonetheless, as Awaki-san admitted, there are still challenges in getting natural cultivation off the ground. This year’s iteration of their natural cultivation class focuses on growing vegetables. While farmers are able learn the cultivation skills from JA, the investment and support vegetable farmers receive is limited compared to that of rice growers. As Awaki-san says, it’s a matter market value. For a while, the organization tried buying vegetables from natural farmers at a price set by the farmers, but wasn’t able to make a profit. While these farmers are still working on their own, selling directly to consumers, thus far, it’s difficult for individuals practicing natural vegetable farming in Hakui, and beyond, to make a living solely from their farm.