Collection: Hiroshi Omori
Producer: Hiroshi Omori
Produced in Minamiaso Village, Kumamoto Prefecture
Main product: Rice
No pesticides used
Fertilizer use: None
Encounter with natural farming
They have been practicing natural farming in Minamiaso Village, Kumamoto Prefecture since 2012.
They weren't originally farmers, but their parents were school teachers.
When Omori-san was a child, his parents had a home garden without pesticides, and he harvested vegetables with them. That was his first encounter with them, he said with a laugh.
He discovered surfing at the age of 18. He loves surfing so much that he still surfs today, and has been doing it for 27 years. Nowadays, Omori is a very calm person with a lovely smile, but he used to be a bit of a troublemaker. When he started smoking and would casually throw his cigarette butts away, a senior surfer said to him, "You may think you're just doing it by yourself, but what do you think would happen if there were 10, 100, or 1000 people doing it?" This made him realize the importance of living a natural life in harmony with nature.
He ran a general goods store for a while. He dealt in imported goods from overseas, and sometimes even traveled overseas to buy goods, but he suddenly began to feel uncomfortable with his current job. "Purchase, sell, and make a profit. It seems like a given, but I started to wonder if that was all I needed to do."
Feeling uneasy, he quit the general store job and after quitting he became absorbed in surfing.
While living a life of earning money in my spare time, I started to think about getting a job, and because I had a strong desire to create things myself, I decided to take the plunge and study agriculture as a trainee at the Kumamoto Organic Agriculture Research Association in Kumamoto.
You can learn organic farming there for a year and then start farming in Misato Town.
"When I studied agriculture, it was before the earthquake, and not many people wanted to become farmers. There were only about eight other trainees, so I'm surprised that there are so few now," he said.
When it came time to start farming, he struggled with what to grow.
"I thought I wouldn't be able to continue unless it was something I liked the most, so I thought long and hard about whether it would be watermelon, strawberries, or melon.
But what I liked most was rice."
Rice is one of the crops that new farmers rarely take up, but Omori-san decided to start growing rice because it is his favorite crop!
Apparently, the first one or two years after starting farming were very difficult as there were few places to sell their produce.
"My old surfer acquaintances and friends supported me by buying rice for me. I still can't thank them enough, and if they call me and ask for rice, I'll bring it straight away," he said with a laugh.
He left Misato Town and started farming in Minamiaso Village.
One day, while he was working in the fields, a woman he didn't know approached him and asked, "Where are you from?"
That woman was Kazuko Takashima, who was the one who introduced Omori to natural farming.
He is a producer active in natural farming in the same Minamiaso village, and it was clear from our conversation that he is someone whom Omori respects and trusts very much.
At the time, he only knew how to farm organically, so he was amazed by the "natural farming" method that Takashima taught him.
He said that he was deeply impressed by Kazuko Takashima's way of thinking, as well as the natural farming methods, and that this was what he truly wanted to do.
This encounter marked the beginning of Omori's journey into natural farming.
This is Omori's third year in Minamiaso.
He is also a member of Kazuko Takashima's agricultural group.
He is still a novice when compared to the veteran farmers around him, but he is improving every day as he competes with them.
Mr. Omori's motto is "Go for it" - if you're going to go, go for it.
“If you start natural farming, you don’t want to do it half-heartedly.
If I'm going to do it, I want to pursue true natural farming.
If you find trash in the rice field, be sure to remove it.
We cannot and do not want to lie to consumers.
Our rice is priced higher than other types of rice (organic and conventional), so we must not do anything to disappoint the consumers who are paying a high price for it," Omori said, his passion clear in his words.
Mr. Omori is serious about natural farming and takes it head-on.
He will continue to pursue natural farming in order to provide the real taste of rice and true peace of mind. I learned a lot from Mr. Omori's high awareness of being a farmer.