Back to the root of farming, Spreading the charm of Soma
Oonomura Farm

Field of Soma Dotare, Oonomura Farm

Otsubo district in Soma city. It was a farming area previously called Ono village and aging among the people continues to progress in this district. Here lies Soma Futaba, an area affected by the tsunami and nuclear damage. A few months after the disaster, a young man started organic farming. His name is Shohei Kikuchi.
Everybody disagreed with his idea. He worked as a shoplifting catcher for his part-time job in Tokyo, aiming to eventually become a manga artist. He saw a shoplifter due to the poverty and hunger in the area. He met a man suffering from poverty at a soup-run which he volunteered for. There is no place for the poor people to be provided food in the cities. The connection of people should support eating. He noticed that people, in fact, had lost these ideas.
Then, he decided to recover it by farming, which was something his grandparents had been involved in before. He visited farms around Japan and learned about organic farming. When the nuclear disaster struck his hometown, he was convinced that the place to farm was in Soma.
He had hard times but stuck to old-school methods. After a while, the "Milky Eggs" he raised made a big hit. The eggs were fed with the bony parts of fish disposed of by fishermen. He grew Satoimo, a traditional vegetable in Soma, and revived "Soma Dotare".
Having agriculture trainees from all over the nation and the world, Mr. Shohei Kikuchi provided a place for them to understand the importance of the connections among the people as well as the connections between people and nature. He also has relationships with the people in different fields in Soma. Moreover, he meets his consumers in the metropolitan area and sends out the charm of Soma with confidence and pride.

Contact: 23-1 Aza Nisihata, Otsubo, Soma City, Fukushima Prefecture

Website: Oonomura Nouen
https://www.oonomuranouen.com/