日本の農村では、野菜などを栽培していない畑＝耕作放棄地が増えています。なかでも小さな農地は大型機械が入りにくく効率が悪いため、耕作放棄地になりがちです。宮崎の石川美里さんは、この難しい問題に、逆転の発想で挑みました。
小さな農地に大型機械が入らないのならば、もともと大型機械を必要としない野菜を植えればいいのでは？そこで目をつけたのが、小さなミニ野菜。大量生産には向かないミニ野菜を、小さな農地で、有機農業でつくる。
有機農業というだけではなかなか売れない。そこで栄養の多い皮やヘタをまるごと食べらる、ぬか漬けセットとして商品開発。小さい野菜はカットなしで漬け込むことができ、食卓に並べたときの彩りも鮮やか。健康に気を配る都会の女性に大ヒットしました。
腸活ミニ野菜 miraibatake.jp
In Japan’s farming villages, the number of abandoned fields where vegetables and other crops are not grown is increasing. Small farmlands in particular tend to become abandoned because they are inefficient and difficult for large machinery to access. Ms. Misato Ishikawa of Miyazaki, Japan, has taken on this difficult problem with a reversal of thinking.
If large machinery cannot fit on small farmland, why not plant vegetables that originally did not require large machinery? This is where she turned her attention to small miniature vegetables. She started organic farming of miniature vegetables, which are not suitable for mass production, on a small piece of farmland.
It is difficult to sell products just by saying that they are organic farming. Therefore, she developed a product as a set of nuka-zuke (pickles with marinated vegetables), in which the nutritious peels and stems can be eaten whole. The small vegetables can be pickled without cutting, and the color of the vegetables is vibrant when they are placed on the table. The product was a big hit with health-conscious urban women.