Yuji Fukushima

Producer: Yuji Fukushima Production area: Minamata City, Kumamoto Prefecture Main product: Citrus Use of pesticides: None Use of fertilizers: None

Yuji Fukushima, Minamata City, Kumamoto Prefecture
Minamata City is located in the southern part of Kumamoto Prefecture.
The mountain slopes extend directly from the sea, allowing the area to be bathed in plenty of sunlight.
Fukushima Yuji's orchard is located in this area, where citrus fruits have long been cultivated.
Mr. Fukushima grows a wide variety of citrus fruits at a citrus farm that has been in operation for generations.


Fukushima-san has been farming without fertilizers or pesticides for 20 years now.

"I live in Minamata, Kumamoto, and a long time ago, Minamata disease caused concern to people all over the country. Environmental pollution in particular must never be allowed to happen again. We are well aware of the horror of environmental pollution, so there are many organizations that are enthusiastic about organic farming, and Minamata is a place where there is a particularly large amount of information available to each other."
Minamata City in Kumamoto Prefecture has a history of the Minamata disease problem, which was officially recognized in 1956, and is also an environmentally friendly city that has faced the problem as a whole region and achieved recovery.
As a result, many farmers have been working on environmentally friendly agriculture in recent years, and Fukushima is leading the way among them as a pioneer.

Amanatsu, not commonly available, fully ripened on the tree

Since typical sweet summer oranges are easily affected by cold waves, they are typically harvested between January and December, bagged to ripen, and then shipped in March.
Although Fukushima's work requires constant care and a lot of effort, he chooses to leave the fruit in its natural state and harvests it from the trees just before shipping.
Fully ripened Amanatsu on the tree is so rare that no one else is able to do it.

From "appearance, taste, safety" to "safety, taste, appearance" <br>The harmful effects of pesticides were also discussed, and it was revealed that Japan uses the most pesticides. It was also mentioned that farmers nearby who spray pesticides sometimes die early.
Because consumers know very little about pesticides, the order of importance is "appearance, taste, safety," but Fukushima feels that the order of importance is the opposite: "safety, taste, appearance."
Wild boars, deer and other animals eat the fruit, so they are cruelly trapped in cages and killed.
Fukushima doesn't kill them, but instead takes the labor-intensive step of installing electric fences. He also takes the time to protect the trees from the Asian longhorn beetle, which dries out the trees, by wrapping nets around the base of each tree individually to prevent them from laying eggs.

Environmentally friendly efforts : Plastic greenhouses and flood pipes will later become waste.
In the end, they decided not to use it because it would be too harmful to the environment.
The undergrowth had been cut. The trees looked very healthy and strong, and the fruit looked as if it was happily growing.
There are people who eat and people who sell, and that makes me motivated to produce. Even if I get greedy and earn more, there's nothing I want to buy, so I'll just harvest what I can, but when I see the fruit growing, I don't want to waste it, so I'd appreciate your help.
That's what he said.