Cultivating grapes on the "back side" of Yamanashi?
A new form of agriculture that is spreading now May 20, 17:15
"The seasons are reversed in the northern and southern hemispheres."
There are people who grow Japanese grapes twice a year, taking advantage of this phenomenon that everyone knows.
This initiative overturned the "common sense" that open-field grapes are harvested only once a year.
By fundamentally changing the way of farming, it also supports producers.
(Kofu Broadcasting Station reporter Kasei Shimizu)
"Out of season" grapes lined up in department stores
A department store in Shinjuku, Tokyo.
This April, the grapes lined up in the fresh food section were gaining popularity.
It is a large high-class grape "Violet King".
It is a variety that can be eaten with the skin developed by a research institute in Yamanashi prefecture, and is characterized by its sweetness and refreshing acidity.
It is also said to be the "King of Red Grape".
The person who bought it
"It's a celebration of the entrance of my grandson who likes grapes."
"I bought it because my child wanted to eat it. It's hard to have grapes at this time of year."
Why are Japanese grapes lined up in stores at this time when there is no grape harvest?
Actually, it was harvested in an unexpected place.
Japanese making grapes in NZ
The place is New Zealand in the Southern Hemisphere, which is more than 9000 kilometers away from Japan.
This is Mr. Tetsuya Higuchi of the agricultural production corporation "Grape Senshin Co., Ltd." that makes Yamanashi grapes.
Mr. Higuchi from Yamanashi prefecture.
He has been making grapes in Fuefuki for over 20 years, but eight years ago he started producing them in New Zealand.
Tetsuya Higuchi, CEO
"The trigger was my wife's casual words. Japan in the northern hemisphere and New Zealand in the southern hemisphere have opposite seasons, and I thought that if we could take advantage of this difference, we would be able to grow grapes all year round. I want to change agriculture. "
When growing grapes grown in the open field, agricultural work will begin in earnest in Japan from around May.
And when the harvest is finished around October, it will be a quiet period for half a year until the spring of the following year.
During this time, there is little work, so farmers cannot earn income and employees have no work.
However, in New Zealand, where the seasons are opposite, the grapes are cultivated and harvested from late October to April, when Japan is in a quiet season.
In other words, you can harvest grapes twice a year by changing the place of cultivation.
Tetsuya Higuchi CEO
"Japan or New Zealand, if you only have one income, you can't be a corporation and you can't pay high salaries to employees. But if you can harvest twice a year, 1 You can hire employees all year round and your life will be stable. "
Benefits for working people
Cultivation twice a year is also beneficial for workers.
Not only can you earn a stable income, but you can also quickly acquire the skills necessary for grape cultivation.
Mr. Higuchi's Yamanashi and Mr. Ken Sakuma who worked in a field in New Zealand for about 4 years.
His experience at that time also led to his subsequent independence.
Grape farmer Ken Sakuma
"They got rid of the stereotype that agriculture is done in one place and broadened my horizons. It is a skill to gain the same experience twice a year. It was very important in the sense that it was attached to
Tetsuya Higuchi CEO
"If you give technical guidance only in Japan, even if you teach from 1 to 10 in one season, you will have a blank for half a year during the off-season, so I forget about half. But I go back and forth between Japan and New Zealand. If you do, you can experience repeated cultivation, so you can acquire the technique more than twice as fast. "
Companies are also paying attention!
It was a real estate company that started making grapes
Companies are also very interested in Mr. Higuchi's agriculture.
Mitsui Fudosan, a major real estate company, established an in-house venture company "GREEN COLLAR" three years ago with the aim of expanding into new fields.
With the cooperation of Mr. Higuchi, we embarked on full-scale grape cultivation.
At first glance, grape making that looks completely different from the real estate industry.
However, it takes about three years from planting seedlings to the start of harvesting, and it is said that the fact that the business takes time is similar to the real estate industry.
Yusuke Kaburagi CEO
"The idea of taking advantage of the difference in seasons is interesting, and it also has social significance in tackling the challenges facing agriculture such as the aging population and the shortage of workers. The real estate industry has land acquisition and building construction. It may take decades before the business starts, so it's similar to making grapes, so I think it was easy to accept even in fields in different fields. "
Protect Japanese agriculture
The company plans to start harvesting grapes next year, but in the future it aims to expand the area of the vineyards to 150 hectares, which is 10 times the area of the current vineyards, which is equivalent to 210 soccer courts.
And in New Zealand's vineyards, we want to actively hire Japanese vineyards and those who want to start farming during the off-season and have no jobs.
Yusuke Kaburagi
"I want to spread the wonderfulness of Japanese grapes to the world and contribute to Japanese farmers and agriculture."
Japanese agriculture has high potential
Mr. Higuchi realized a new form of cultivation by taking advantage of the phenomenon that everyone knows that the seasons are different in the northern hemisphere and the southern hemisphere.
Japanese agriculture suffers from a shortage of farmers and an aging population, but in reality it has high potential.
Tetsuya Higuchi CEO
"Made in Japan, I think it is important to disseminate Japan quality to the world. I happened to choose New Zealand, but I want more producers to farm with a positive feeling. I think that agriculture is a business that young people can dream of, and I would be happy if young people could come up with new forms of agriculture. "
Mr. Higuchi's new grape cultivation that aims to protect Japanese technology and employment by going back and forth between the northern and southern hemispheres.
A new initiative has begun in Yamanashi.
Kofu Broadcasting Station reporter
Shimizu Kaisei
joined in 2020.
He is in charge of prefectural and municipal administration in Yamanashi prefecture.
What surprised me at Yamanashi was the story that "I don't buy peaches and grapes, I get them."