No.1

“Do you have any seeds of traditional vegetables from this area?” Kobayashi Sora asks a shopkeeper.

Sora is a high school student.

When he was in the third grade of junior high school, Sora started a project: traveling around Japan collecting seeds to sell in Tokyo.

Some seeds are for well-known, branded local specialties like Kyoto’s “Kamo eggplant” and Gunma’s “Shimonita green onions.”

Other seeds are for lesser-known local varieties.

In Japan, many traditional vegetables have been cultivated in certain areas and have not been grown outside these areas.

They are now on the verge of extinction.

Sora buys these seeds to sell and distribute nationwide for their conservation.

What comes to mind when you hear the word “seed”?

Seeds are important because all crops, such as vegetables, grains, and fruits are grown from seeds.

These crops are essential for our survival.

Some might say that we could survive without them and live off meat.

However, without seeds, livestock would have nothing to eat and would not survive.

Seeds play the most crucial role in the production of all the food we eat.

Many of the vegetables we buy every day are grown from seeds called F1 seeds.

They are high-quality seeds that have undergone improvements.

By using F1 seeds, farmers can save on the time and effort required to grow products.

They can also produce crops of a high quality, keep harvest times regular, and maintain the consistency of their products.

Furthermore, they can easily produce two crops per year.

These advantages of F1 seeds reduce the farmers’ workload and increase their output.

However, this means that fewer farmers are cultivating seeds in a traditional way.

As a result, local varieties are in danger of disappearing.

Since local ingredients play a large role in Japan’s rich food culture, losing them would be a tragedy.

This is what motivated Sora to start his project.

There is another problem. Farmers using F1 seeds need to purchase new seeds each year.

This is because the seeds from F1 products grow poorly.

This raises a big issue: what if someone were to take control of the world’s seeds?

What would happen? Everyone would scramble to gather the last remaining seeds.

Some people might resort to force. The world could become an extremely dangerous place if we were to lose the seeds of local varieties.

With this thought in mind, Sora is providing an alternative to F1 seeds by protecting the seeds of traditional vegetables.

When starting his project, Sora wrote a proposal to his parents.

They were quite surprised to hear his idea, but eventually they understood that there was more to it than just making money or having fun.

Consequently, they decided to support him with his business venture, even though he was only a junior high school student at that time.

Running a business is not easy for a high school student with little money.

What is worse, his seed business is not making much money, and he gets no regular allowance from his parents.

The only way he can make money is to grow and sell organic vegetables from the seeds he purchases.

However, he enjoys making trips to look for seeds.

He is traveling his own path and making his own discoveries.

Sora says, “My aim is to change the world by changing the way seeds are distributed.

It’s actually very interesting to study seed-related technologies, such as fertilization and genetic modification, but I don’t think that technology alone is enough to make big chances.

When seed-related technologies and new methods of distribution come together, the seed industry will start to change.

I want to be there when that happens.”

Sora is not the only one trying to preserve unique seeds.

A group of young farmers are thinking of growing traditional vegetables from preserved seeds and expending a classic style of Japanese food culture.

Some organizations run “seed banks” for storing seeds that are at risk of disappearing.

In addition, several corporations are attempting to revive the use of traditional vegetables to promote biodiversity.

As a result, more people are becoming aware of the importance of traditional vegetables and the need for their conservation.

Sora’s next goal is an online business.

His website will be a platform for people to purchase seeds.

Users will also have seeds sent to them from other regions in exchange for some of their local seeds.

There may still be some technical issues, but Sora has high hopes for the future.

“Even high school students can make changes by starting with something familiar.

Dealing with familiar seeds is about dealing with a crisis that affects us humans.

There are various issues we could all be tackling in our everyday lives.

We need to find one around us and think it over.”

So, what issues can you find?