In the town of Atsusawabe, richly endowed with forests and water sources,
a farmer specializing in asparagus who practices farming methods that maximize the power of the land.
They continue to produce delicious crops so that everyone can enjoy a healthy and happy life.

Jet Farm’ s asparagus is sought after by everyone from Michelin-starred restaurants to ordinary diners. Mr. Hiroki Hasegawa, the representative of Jet Farm, is earnest in his commitment to healthy and delicious food for everyone, and spares no effort in drawing out the power of the soil in Atsusawabe. How was the asparagus, nicknamed “hasepara,” cultivated?

A Town Where Many Vegetables Grow, Including Potatoes

Located on the Oshima Peninsula in southwestern Hokkaido, the town of Asusabu is a town rich in nature with a thriving agricultural and forestry industry. The tourist city of Hakodate, located in the southeast of the peninsula, is approximately 1 hour and 15 minutes away by car.

While temperatures in Atsusawaabe-cho vary between day and night, the town is relatively mild and the snow melts quickly. A wide variety of crops are grown in the town, including “Asabu make-in,” a specialty crop that begins to be cultivated in early spring, soybeans, and asparagus. Asparagus, which is highly praised by chefs from all over Japan, is grown here in the town of Atsusawabe. Jet Farm, a farm specializing in asparagus, is responsible for this. Harvesting is from spring to summer.

Spring asparagus has a low sugar content, but its flavor is concentrated. The sweetness increases further through the summer.

Asparagus grown without pesticides is highly praised by top chefs.

Jet Farm, a farm specializing in asparagus, started in 2012 with the wish to “make people feel better by eating delicious asparagus. The farm ‘s stance is to use no chemical fertilizers and no pesticides. They do not use pesticides, herbicides, or insecticides, and grow asparagus in compost fermented mainly from plant materials.

As a producer, I am simply helping to draw out the natural power of the land,” says company representative Hiroki Hasegawa. From Italian to French, Japanese, Chinese, and even Spanish cuisine, Jet Farm’s asparagus is loved by chefs of all genres, and chefs at famous restaurants speak highly of the asparagus. Hasegawa’s asparagus, which has won the hearts of numerous chefs, has been delivered to 120 restaurants in Tokyo alone and some 200 nationwide, and there have been inquiries from abroad as well.

Good soil” made by earthworms

The town of Atsusawabe is a basin surrounded by mountains on three sides, and 80% of the town is forested. A river flows around Jet Farm’s fields, carrying nutrients nurtured by the hardwood trees in the mountains upstream. As you can see from the soil, it is clayey and hardens where people walk on it,” he explains. When the hardened soil is dug up, it crumbles like a cookie. What emerged from the crumbled soil were earthworms.

In fact, Hasegawa continues, the holes in the soil that look like tunnels are actually the remains of earthworms.

Earthworms defecate after passing through the holes,” Hasegawa said. When the tunnel holes are filled with feces, water, air, and plant roots can pass through, and the soil is in very good condition.

Microorganisms living in the soil break down organic matter in the soil, and the reduced protein is converted into amino acids, which are then converted into nitric acid and ammonia. This is the material cycle, and once the amino acids are converted, the plants can already absorb them.

However, in the case of chemical fertilizer cultivation, nitric acid and ammonia are not decomposed and increase in number, upsetting the balance. In order to maintain the balance of the material cycle, Jet Farm uses a fertilizer made from a mixture of fish waste, bran, dead asparagus stalks, and weeds collected from their own field soil.

I’d like to complete the process on my own, but we only grow asparagus, so the balance is lost. The weeds, which are plants other than asparagus, play a major role. So weeding is hard work, but I consider it a valuable resource.”

If these are piled up for a long time, they ferment and turn black. About three days before spraying, Hasegawa mixes the bran with crushed crab shells, which are rich in chitin, and kelp meal, and leaves the mixture on the ground. Around here, we often find fossilized whale bones, and about 200 million years ago, there was a sea.

The reason for adding marine materials to the soil is to make it more compatible with the original soil.

We started with manure and now we also use chicken manure. Although manure makes asparagus very sweet, I felt that it was not suitable for this field because it makes the asparagus look overworked.

Mr. Hasegawa searched for something that matched his field and would adjust the nutrients in the soil without destroying its individuality or asserting itself, and he came up with sea manure. I wondered what I could do to make the asparagus taste natural, not overly sweet, as if it had been coated with sugar. When I was looking for a natural flavor, I found that it blends well with the plant matter and minerals of the sea, and I settled on the way we do it now.”

Aspiring to become a farmer to help alleviate food shortages

Mr. Hasegawa, a native of Hakodate, started farming 12 years ago at the age of 26.

It all started when he read a newspaper article in the dormitory of the chemical company where he worked.

The article said that there would not be enough food in the not-too-distant future as a result of the world’s population increase. I decided that if someone else had to take on the responsibility, I would do it myself.

Although his desire to become a farmer grew, Mr. Hasegawa was actually a complete beginner. He chose the town of Atsusawabe because his wife’s family lived nearby, and he received training in potato cultivation, a specialty of the town. Around that time, he met an elderly couple growing asparagus and spinach in a greenhouse. When asked, they said, “My back is hurting and I would like to hand over farming to someone else soon. They told us that they were able to inherit the greenhouses, farm equipment, and barns as they were.

It is said that 90% of asparagus is water, and the quality of asparagus is greatly affected by the quality of water used.

The water supply in Atsusawabe-cho uses subsoil water from Mt. Because of the high quality of the water, we began to focus on asparagus production,” says Hasegawa.

I had experience growing potatoes, pumpkins, and beans during my training. But asparagus was new to me. He learned to grow asparagus from an elderly couple who took over the business. In his second year of farming, he began to feel a positive response.

However,” Mr. Hasegawa recalls.

I think there are parts of farming that you can’t get into unless you understand the principles,” Hasegawa said. But at the time, I just looked up what I didn’t understand on the Internet and gathered what I could.

He was so intent on following the theory that he used pesticides, herbicides, and chemical fertilizers without even thinking about it.

For some reason, he began to feel ill more and more often.

He said, “When I sprayed pesticides, I would get sick. I felt that this was somehow not good. I made a drastic decision and stopped using pesticides.

This turned out to be a bad move, and all the above-ground stalks of asparagus died.

After quitting pesticides, the harvest plummeted, and then he met his mentor.

He later learned that if he was going to stop using pesticides, ” the theory was to stop using chemical fertilizers as well, and to use organic fertilizers to improve the soil environment before starting pesticides. However, at that time, Mr. Hasegawa had no way of knowing what the theory was. His personal problems, such as the hospitalization of his child, also took their toll on him, and he became mentally and physically exhausted. As the harvest volume plummeted, he was burdened with expenses and fixed costs. There were times when I relied on my wife’s parents, who live nearby,” he says.

In his third year of farming, it was also a trying time for his asparagus production.

Mr. Hasegawa, troubled by the situation, met someone through an introduction. Mr . Seiji Akii, the representative of “Miyoi Noen” who organically grows “Kuririn” pumpkins with high sugar content in the neighboring town of Mori.

He says, “My mind and body were in shambles at the time, and it was like fate had brought us together. My mentor was also a man who had been experimenting with soil cultivation. He told me to start by understanding what soil is.

He taught me that it is important to understand the soil and to maintain the existing and original environment of the field.

Mr. Hasegawa says that his mentor’s words resonated with him.

He said, “If you use chemical fertilizers, the plants will certainly grow well, but you destroy the balance of the soil. I learned from my mentor that it is not good to do that. He told me that I should care about maintaining the original environment of the soil.”

Soil is composed of mineral dust, water, and air. In addition, microorganisms live and eat organic matter. Microorganisms gather, excrete, and another microorganism eats their bodies and is eaten by another microorganism…the soil is formed through this cycle. Plants live by sucking in nutrients from the excrement and dead microorganisms decomposed by the surrounding microorganisms. He learned that soil is made up of the workings of nature, and he continued to struggle to put this into practice.

He says that by following his master’s teachings and knowing and cultivating his own fields, he was able to create fertile and strong soil.

The asparagus no longer get sick,” he says. The yield also made a V-shaped recovery. I remember feeling relieved at the time that we had somehow managed to get our peelings back on the same page.

Fate continued to bring him opportunities to share the taste of the asparagus he had poured his heart and soul into.

One of my acquaintances who tasted the asparagus I harvested said, ‘Delicious! I was so happy to hear that. He introduced me to the chefs at two restaurants in Meguro Ward : “Ri Carica” in Gakugei Daigaku and “mondo” in Niyugaoka.

The two restaurants liked Mr. Hasegawa’s asparagus and introduced it to their menus. The reputation of “Mr. Hasegawa’s asparagus” spread among Italian chefs, and now there are inquiries from popular restaurants regardless of genre.

To deliver delicious asparagus in its best condition

As a grower, Mr. Hasegawa has always been searching for ways to produce delicious asparagus. He says that in the past, he used to take a forward-looking stance, saying, “I’m going to produce delicious asparagus︕. He says that his forward-looking stance has changed over the years.

Now I want to think about how to draw out the power of the field and how to reflect the power of the soil in the asparagus, and continue to grow asparagus that is “unique to our field.

Mr. Hasegawa is going back to the basics of agriculture, which is “subtractive” farming, where unnecessary things are eliminated rather than adding something new. I want to not only produce delicious products, but also make sure that people eat them in their best condition. He says that he would like to think about storage and distribution as well.

Asparagus that are picked in the morning are immediately put in the refrigerator and chilled for two hours before being cut and packed in bags. After cutting, the asparagus is kept in the refrigerator again until the delivery company arrives to keep it fresh. Unlike potatoes and other vegetables, which become sweeter when the temperature rises, asparagus lose sugar when the temperature rises. The secret to keeping asparagus tasty is not to leave it at room temperature, but to keep it in a state of suspended animation at a temperature close to 0°C, so that as much sugar as possible is not consumed. The asparagus is also delivered “standing up” to keep it fresh.

We want our asparagus to be in its best condition for both three-star restaurants and the average homeowner,” he says.

Jet Farm is celebrating its 10th anniversary. They will continue to weave the workings of the earth, sparing no effort to produce delicious asparagus that will bring enjoyable meals and happy times.

Jet Farm’s asparagus, nurtured by the subsoil water from Mt. With just the right amount of sugar, moisture, flavor, and soft skin, our asparagus can be boiled, grilled, or fried. Please enjoy them as much as you like! Spring asparagus, with its low sugar content, can be used in all kinds of cooking methods and menus, while summer asparagus can be grilled for a deeper flavor. We will do our best to make your mealtime more enjoyable!

The post Asparagus at “Jet Farm,” where subtractive agriculture brings out the individuality of the fields / Atsusawabe Town, Hokkaido first appeared on NIHONMONO.

Where is the production area of delicious asparagus? Iki City” may not be the first place many people would answer. In fact, however, there is an asparagus farm in Iki, a remote island in Nagasaki Prefecture, that is chosen by many food professionals, including famous restaurants nationwide. We visited Mr. Tamihito Konoi of Konomi Farm and asked him about the characteristics of Iki asparagus and the reasons for its delicious taste.

Iki Island, a production center of delicious asparagus

Nagasaki Prefecture has 971 islands, the largest number in Japan. Located in the northern part of the prefecture, about halfway between Kyushu and Tsushima, is the island of Iki, which appears in Japan’s oldest historical book, Kojiki (Records of Ancient Matters). The island has deep ties to mythology and is known as “the island where the gods dwell” with more than 150 shrines scattered throughout the island, making it a popular power spot with its pristine nature. Fishing and rice cultivation have thrived on the island since ancient times, thanks to its mild climate, rich sea, and fertile land, but the agricultural product that has been attracting attention in recent years is undoubtedly asparagus.

Why is Iki’s asparagus so delicious?

At the peak of the asparagus harvest, edible stalks sprout one after another around a single plant, growing 10 to 15 cm in 24 hours. To support their vigorous life force, they require large amounts of fertilizer and water, which is why they are also known as the “pigs of the field. In other words, “land with strength” is essential for high-quality asparagus, and Iki Island, with its fertile soil and abundant groundwater, is perfectly suited for growing asparagus. In recent years, various efforts have been made on the island as a whole to make asparagus a core crop, and its reputation is increasing.

The “Iki City Asparagus Project” undertaken by the entire island

One thing that is indispensable when talking about the soil of Iki is the existence of “Iki beef,” which is also known as “fantastic Wagyu beef. Iki Island, which is also famous as a production center of high-grade Wagyu calves, has many breeding and fattening farmers. The compost obtained from these farms is fully decomposed and fermented to make ” fully matured compost,” which is blended with basalt soil most suitable for vegetable cultivation, resulting in the growth of high-quality asparagus. The fact that all of the 70 or so asparagus farmers in Iki City have been certified as “Eco Farmers,” producers who practice environmentally friendly agriculture, and that they have adopted smart agriculture such as an automatic irrigation system using loT sensors are also major reasons for their brand strength. These steady efforts, accumulation of data and know-how, and incorporation of new technology have further improved the quality and reputation of Iki-produced asparagus, which also won the Japan Agricultural Grand Prize in 2011.

Konomi Farm, a healthy environmentally friendly farm

I visited Konomi Farm at the end of April. In a plastic greenhouse the size of about 12 tennis courts located along Route 382 in the center of the island, asparagus trees about 2 meters tall were neatly lined up, with small, pretty yellow flowers blooming. Mr. Tamihito Konomi, the second generation asparagus grower, welcomed us, pointing to the stalks peeking out from the sides of the plants and saying, “It is spring asparagus that we are harvesting now. His bright red work clothes, which he says he started wearing to accentuate the vivid green of the asparagus, and his smile are dazzling.

History of Konomi Farm

The Xuhui family, which used to be rice farmers, started asparagus cultivation in 1997, when Tamihito’s father, Seihito, took over the farm. Asparagus can be harvested with a pair of scissors without the need for large machinery such as rice transplanters or combine harvesters, and furthermore, it provides a daily income during the season. On the other hand, rice farmers harvest once a year. In light of the bitter experience of being hit by typhoons and other wind and flood damage many times in the past, which resulted in reduced harvests and poor quality, the farmers decided that it would be risky to make a living only from rice. The momentum of a government project that had just started at the time, to make asparagus the core crop of Iki Island, also encouraged him to steer his business as an asparagus farmer while growing rice. Later, he and his fellow farmers in Iki were certified as the nation’s first eco-farmers for asparagus, and he has devoted himself to environmentally friendly agriculture. Now, Mr. Tamihito is the second generation to take over the farm.

What is important is soil and water. And human eyes and hands.

During the harvesting season from March to October, asparagus shoots sprout and grow incessantly, and the asparagus farmer kneels down and carefully cuts them one by one with scissors. Harvesting is all done by hand, and it’s physical work that takes a toll on the body because there are no breaks during the seven-month period. I am overwhelmed by the vitality of the asparagus, which grows from short in the morning until it is ready to be harvested by noon. If weeds grow, he pulls them out by hand, and for pest control, he sets up pheromone traps that do not use chemicals. He also makes it a daily routine to walk around the farm to check the growth of the plants and the condition of the soil. If the surface of the soil is dry to the touch, he covers it with matured compost made from Iki beef. If there is not enough water, even just a little, the plants lose their vigor. At our farm, we give them plenty of groundwater that tastes good even for human consumption,” smiles Mr. Xu Hi. The expression on his face conveys the care he takes for his asparagus.

Winter maintenance is also an important job. Asparagus stops growing when the temperature drops and goes into a dormant state. In spring, when the temperature rises above 20 degrees Celsius, the asparagus wakes up from its sleep and begins to grow young stalks. When the harvest season is over and the green leaves die, the trees are cut down from the base, the farm is disinfected, and compost is added, allowing the nourished plants to rest until the next spring. Asparagus is a vegetable that cannot be harvested for three years after planting, but continues to sprout vigorously for the next 10 to 20 years. Management during the dormant period has a great impact on the quality of subsequent years.

Steady Expansion of Sales Channels

Currently, asparagus produced at Konomi Farm is used at many famous hotels and restaurants in central Tokyo and elsewhere. What Mr. Xu did to expand sales channels is quite simple. I started by visiting restaurants and chefs directly with my own feet and having them actually try the asparagus,” he said. He once traveled all the way from Iki Island to a market in Kamakura, Kanagawa Prefecture, where chefs go to buy asparagus to sell to a two-star Michelin restaurant in Ginza, Tokyo, that wanted to use Konomi Farm’s asparagus. The taste, endorsed by top food professionals, was introduced from chef to chef, and now the asparagus is well-known among those in the know. His steady efforts have borne fruit.

Delicious raw asparagus

The asparagus produced at Konomi Farm has a refreshing sweetness and is juicy to the bite. When eaten raw, the supple skin pops open and the crispy texture is accompanied by a gentle sweetness and aroma. When cooked, the taste becomes richer and the aroma more pronounced.

The season is twice a year, in spring and summer.

The spring shoots that sprout first are called “spring asparagus” and the summer shoots that emerge after the plants have rested are called “summer asparagus. While there is no major difference in taste or appearance, “I would venture to say that spring asparagus, which grows with nutrients stored during the winter, has a strong sweet aroma like young corn, while summer asparagus, which emerges in late May to early June, is bright pastel green and has a more tender texture,” says Xu Hi. When we harvest them every day, we can clearly see the moment when they change from spring buds to summer buds. It’s just a small difference,” he says. The fact that he is able to feel the minute changes on his skin is due to the fact that he has been working with his eyes and hands for seven months without a break.

Popular asparagus dishes at the Xuhui family’s table

The asparagus farmer’s recommended recipe is a bold yet simple “lightly grilled asparagus. Place the whole asparagus on a preheated grill over high heat for 3 minutes, and grill until the surface is charred. Sprinkle with salt to taste and you are done. The umami flavor is concentrated, and the fragrance of the surface fills the mouth.

Mr. Xuhi has some advice for those who are looking to purchase. Freshness is essential for “sprouted” vegetables such as asparagus. Check the cut end first, and choose one that is round and clear. Good shaped leaves (triangular leaves attached to the stem) are a sign that they have grown well. After purchasing, be sure to store them upright. If you store them lying down, they will become stringy and lose their flavor. If you wrap them in newspaper, secure them with rubber bands, and store them in the refrigerator, you can enjoy them for up to a week. Use this as a reference when shopping at the supermarket.

To produce more delicious asparagus

Mr. Xu is pursuing “a gentle flavor with no bitterness. He mixes enzymes with fully ripe compost to achieve a more supple texture, and repeats trial and error every day. He is constantly experimenting with new methods, such as mixing ripe compost with enzymes to achieve a more supple texture. I want to reduce the area of my land so that I can do even more work. I want to watch the growth with my own eyes and produce even higher quality asparagus. At the same time, he aims to expand sales channels to the Asian market, taking advantage of Iki Island’s image and geographical advantage. In this day and age, fish from Kyushu landed in the morning is served at restaurants in Hong Kong and Shanghai by noon. Asparagus, which requires freshness, can be shipped through the same route. From Iki, the island where the gods dwell, to the mainland and the world. Mr. Xuhi’s challenge continues.

The post Delicious raw asparagus grown healthily by the water, wind, soil, and sun of Iki Island, Nagasaki Prefecture / Iki City, Nagasaki Prefecture first appeared on NIHONMONO.