Domingo is collaborating with towns in Hokkaido for a month to bring you the second installment, this time focusing on Memuro Town! We will be delivering information on how to enjoy the town and its special local products over a period of four weeks.

Memuro Town is a major producer of the four Tokachi field crops: wheat, sugar beets, potatoes, and beans. Approximately 41% of the town's total area is made up of cultivated fields, and Memuro Town's food self-sufficiency rate is said to be 1,200%. The cultivated land area per farm is a massive 35.1 hectares! This means that one farmer is managing a field the size of about 7.5 Tokyo Domes... it's an astonishing figure.

Photo courtesy of Namara Tokachino

This week, the third week, we will be focusing on people in Memuro town, Japan's food capital, who are working to "close the gap between those who cook and those who eat," and we will be delivering this in two parts! In this first part, we will introduce "Namara Tokachino," a producer who works with a passion to "deliver vegetables directly to customers."

We want to deliver the delicious vegetables grown in the fertile Tokachi Plain to people all over Japan.

"Namara Tokachi-no" is a farmers' group that was formed by 13 farms in the vast Tokachi Plain and is now made up of 18 farms. The name "Namara Tokachino" is a combination of "namara" (very) in Hokkaido dialect, "tokachi" for the Tokachi Plain, and "no" (vegetables), and is imbued with the desire to "deliver the delicious vegetables grown in the fertile Tokachi Plain to people all over the country."

Photo courtesy of Namara Tokachino

In addition to the "four Tokachi field crops" - wheat, sugar beets, potatoes, and beans - we are also trying our hand at growing a variety of vegetables, including lily root, peppers, tomatoes, yams, and garlic. With "safe, secure, and delicious" as our basic standards, our mission is to connect agriculture to the future, in other words, to connect agriculture itself as a livelihood to the next generation, and we are working to create good fields, good vegetables, and a good environment where everyone involved can conduct experiments.

18 passionate producers

Namara Tokachino is an organization of 18 farming families who share a strong desire to connect agriculture in Tokachi to the future and deliver delicious vegetables.

Photo courtesy of Namara Tokachino

The vegetables that everyone is proud of are large, thick peppers, flavorful and rich edamame beans, sweet and juicy sweet corn, lily bulbs with a gentle sweetness and a fluffy texture, medium-sized tomatoes with the perfect balance of sweetness and sourness, mountain wasabi with a mellow spiciness and elegant fragrance, burdock root with little astringency that can be eaten raw, and potatoes that are wintered in a snow room with depth and sweetness.They are growing carefully selected vegetables that are so delicious that you will never forget the taste once you have tried them.

Photo courtesy of Namara Tokachino

We spoke to Takamichi, a member of "Namara Tokachino."

Takamichi

The reason for establishing "Namara Tokachino"

"Originally, I thought the future of agriculture was quite unstable, and wondered how to protect the farmland and agriculture that had been passed down for generations. I wanted to make a living from agriculture for the rest of my life, so I wanted people who eat our food to choose Namara Tokachi-no and connect with us directly." If Japan joins the Trans-Pacific Partnership (TPP) and foreign products are sold at lower prices, the prices of Japanese products will rise relatively, and Tokachi agriculture will be significantly affected and will not be able to continue. Even in such a situation, he said he thought of a way to pass on the baton of agriculture that has been passed down until now to the next generation. "If there are people who choose to buy Namara Tokachino's vegetables, then we and future generations will be able to continue farming as a livelihood. In order to practice this type of sustainable agriculture, we have incorporated Namara Tokachino as a corporation and are focusing on increasing the options for sales methods to deliver delicious vegetables to customers." For example, there is the "Namara Tokachino Marche" at a 7-Eleven in Memuro Town, where vegetable producers sell their produce directly.

It is also available for purchase at the "Namara Tokachino" online shop.

"Namara Tokachino" Online Shop "Although shortages inevitably occur due to weather and other factors, working together with our colleagues allows us to maintain a stable supply because each crop has its own growing conditions. Working as a company allows us to ship large lots and it's easy to build relationships of trust, so we've even had shelves set up for Namara Tokachi-no in supermarkets, allowing us to sell our produce," says Takamichi. The Ito Yokado Obihiro store and MaxValu have set up "Namara Tokachino Corners," and food delivery services such as Oisix also carry the product. In addition, the town is also running an initiative called "Memuro Vegetable Nouveau," where seasonal vegetables from Memuro are delivered to restaurants in the town every 24 solar terms and served to them. Professional chefs prepare the most delicious seasonal vegetables. Memuro Town is a town where you can enjoy this kind of luxury.

Through repeated practice and research, we create vegetables that we can confidently say are "incredibly delicious!"

"I think that Namara Tokachino vegetables are incredibly delicious, so I grow them and sell them." One of Takamichi Farm's proud vegetables is the tomato. They grow medium-sized tomatoes with an excellent balance of sweetness and sourness, and a sweet, slender, varietal called Aiko. "When I've grown tomatoes up until now, there's always an ideal taste that I think, 'This is it!' I'm always striving to achieve that taste, but sometimes I think, 'Oh, I'm not quite there this year.' I keep researching and thinking, 'Why not? What can I do to get closer to that taste?'" When we don't reach our ideal, we don't just accept it, but continue to research and practice in the pursuit of deliciousness. The deliciousness of Namara Tokachino's vegetables is the result of such tireless efforts. Takamichi Farm produces wheat, potatoes, red beans, and other legumes that are among the four major field crops in Tokachi. They also produce many vegetables, including edamame, green beans, tomatoes, yam, pumpkin, garlic, cabbage, and sweet corn. At the time of our visit (early July), it was garlic season. They harvested "fresh garlic," which is fresh and fragrant garlic that is only available at this time of year before it is dried.

On the day we visited, the garlic was just about to be harvested. It was so big!

Freshly harvested garlic is larger than what you usually see in supermarkets, has a beautiful color, and a very strong aroma. When cooked in foil or fried, it was fluffy and delicious, with a lighter taste than what I'm usually used to eating, making it easy to eat.It was a really tasty garlic that could be enjoyed not only as a flavoring but also as a vegetable. The vegetable that Takamichi especially recommends from Namara Tokachino is the Chojuku Kitaakari.

These potatoes are ripened over and over for two years after they are harvested. During the ripening process, the "starch" in the potatoes changes into "sugar," making them very sweet and moist. The editorial team at Domingo immediately ordered 10 kg of the potatoes after the interview and are using them in a variety of dishes such as stew, baked potatoes, nikujaga (miso soup with meat and potatoes), and more. They are so sweet and moist that you'll wonder if they're really potatoes! They don't fall apart easily when cooked, so they're also perfect for stews. Please give it a try! "Namara Tokachino" Online Shop

Takamichi's thoughts on his job as a farmer

"I'm the third generation of a farming family, and from a young age I naturally liked farming and knew I wanted to do it. I enjoyed helping my father, and I also loved vehicles. My father used to let me ride on vehicles from a young age. He used to keep livestock, so at first I was allowed to use a shovel to shovel up straw for the cows, and when I got older I was even allowed to ride on tractors!" It was his daily routine to help out with work as soon as he got home from school. Takamichi-san, who loved cars, said he really enjoyed being able to operate real vehicles instead of miniature cars. He said that he was putting in so much effort to help out that he was also relaxing in some areas... "Helping out was fun, so I was always helping out, and I didn't really study. One day, I came home from school, put my backpack down, and immediately walked behind my dad. He got mad at me and said, 'Study!'...I remember being surprised and thinking, 'What? I'm not allowed to help out today?' (laughs)"

Takamichi-san has always valued relationships with people. I was very impressed by how he said that being invited to various events and having people call out to him, such as at Namara Tokachi-no, is a great asset. When it comes to starting something, getting it moving, or giving it shape, it's more important to be able to create emotional connections than to be able to study. After listening to his story, I was impressed by his passion and lovely smile, which made me think, "I want to do something together with Takamichi!"

summary

What did you think? We learned that the vegetables grown on the vast land of Tokachi are the product of repeated research and practice, as well as a passionate desire to sustain Tokachi's rich agriculture that has been passed down until now. After hearing this story, the Domingo editorial team's perspective on vegetables has changed, and they now purchase Namara Tokachino's vegetables online and also buy Hokkaido vegetables at the supermarket. Well, in the next article, we will introduce someone who is working from a different angle to "bring closer the gap between those who cook and those who eat!" Next week we will also be introducing new local products from Memuro Town and holding a gift campaign!! We will update it every week, so be sure to check it out.