Tags：Medical and HealthFood and AgricultureChubu

The Food, Agriculture, and Health Festival was held on November 16th at Ohito Zuisenkyô in Izunokuni City, Shizuoka Prefecture, and was attended by approximately 1,220 citizens from neighboring cities and towns.

 

 

Since 1998, the festival has been held as a harvest festival centered around harvesting experiences, but this year, for the first time, it was co-hosted with Izunokuni city with the aim of changing consumer awareness towards food, agriculture, and health through delicious and fun experiences for all who visit the Ohito Zuisenkyô, and in particular contributing to the promotion of Izunokuni City’s “Tasty Community Enrichment.”

 

The venue featured a corner where visitors could experience harvesting sweet potatoes, carrots, radishes, etc., as well as the Zuisenkyô Marché, an introduction to the Nature Farming College, an introduction to the wellness garden and MOA School, and health checks provided by the MOA Health Science Center

 

 

In addition, from Izunokuni City, which declared itself an organic village on September 30th, the Agriculture and Forestry Division, Health Promotion Division, and Collaborative Urban Planning Division set up booths to introduce the city’s specific efforts to promote organic farming and improve the health of its citizens, as well as international friendship activities.

 

 

At the ceremony, which began at 11:00 a.m., Suguru Abe, Managing Director of the MOA Natural Farming Foundation, gave a speech on behalf of the organizers. Next, Izunokuni Mayor Masayuki Yamashita took the stage and reported that the city had established an organic agriculture promotion council and had declared itself an organic village on September 30th. He spoke of his hopes for the future promotion of organic agriculture, saying, “We aim for organic agriculture and organic produce to be recognized in the market as valuable products, with the cooperation of not only producers, but also local consumers and distributors.”

 

 

Greetings were given from the sponsoring organizations. Nobutaka Sakai, Chief of the Food and Agriculture Promotion Division of the Agriculture Bureau of the Shizuoka Prefecture Department of Economy, Trade and Industry; Kazuaki Umise, Chief of the Regional Promotion Division of the Shizuoka Prefecture Eastern Agriculture and Forestry Office; Kazuhiro Matsumoto, Professor at the Faculty of Agriculture, Shizuoka University; and Toyokazu Kubota, Principal of Shizuoka Prefectural Tagata Agricultural High School gave greetings.

 

The seminar included an introduction to the Nature Farming College, the efforts of Izunokuni City’s Agriculture and Forestry Department and Health Promotion Department, and an explanation by the Agriculture, Environment and Health Research Institute (Public Interest Incorporated Foundation) about the development of rice varieties suitable for the nature farming method and organic farming method.

 

Participants enjoyed the day visiting each booth at their own leisure, learning about food, agriculture, health, and more, and experiencing a variety of things.

 

Organized by: Ohito Zuisenkyô Festival Executive Committee Co-hosted by Izunokuni City Sponsored by: Ministry of Agriculture, Forestry and Fisheries Kanto Regional Agricultural Administration Office, Shizuoka Prefecture