Life HuggerThe unassuming seed contains local culture, history, and a way of life passed down from generation to generation. There’s been an increase in interest in seeds, too, due to the abolition of the Seed Law and the revision of the Seed and Seedling Law.
Under these circumstances, the “Kakukei Seed Distribution Promotion” aims to communicate the appeal of seeds and the importance of diversity through the sale of open pollinated seeds, which are seeds of traditional vegetables. Representative Sora Kobayashi, who has been fascinated with vegetable growing since elementary school, launched his current business in the third year of junior high school when he was 15 years old.
We interviewed Kobayashi, who is currently attending university, to learn why he decided to start a seed company and what he wants to achieve through seeds.
Growing vegetables started in his home’s rooftop vegetable garden. Extension to the world of seeds
Kobayashi has loved plants, vegetables and gardening since he was a child, often absorbed in growing vegetables from seeds and seedlings on his rooftop garden. He originally thought he would begin growing and selling vegetables.
Kobayashi: “I want people to eat the delicious vegetables that I grow with care, so I decided on selling them. So I rented a field in Gunma Prefecture and started growing vegetables in earnest in my first year of junior high school.”
However, as soon as he started, Kobayashi quickly realized that selling vegetables was difficult. They needed to be sold right after harvest. In addition, he met problems while running the business alone, including storage space and transportation. These experiences led Kobayashi to focus on vegetable seeds.
Kobayashi: I had limited funding and time being a junior high school student then, but seeds would be light, easy to handle, and come at low unit prices. Furthermore, they can be stored for certain periods of time without taking much space. I figured even a junior high school student could do it. As I collected the seeds, I became fascinated by the charm of traditional vegetable seeds that were unique to the region, so I went seed-hunting around the country.
“I want to protect seed diversity”
In 2018, at the age of 15, Kobayashi launched a specialty store for open pollinated seeds, the Kakukei Seed Distribution Promotion. “Kakukei” is written with the words “Crane” and “Neck.” The name was inspired by Kobayashi’s field in Gunma Prefecture. Gunma Prefecture is shaped like a flying crane, and his field is located in the area of its neck. It handles a wide variety of seeds, including traditional vegetables from all over Japan. The seeds are sold online, at natural food stores, and events.
Kobayashi: When I was looking for rare seeds all over the country, I was faced with the circumstances where seed and nursery shops had closed, or the person who was entrusted with the seed collection had passed away due to old age. Vegetables do not grow from nowhere. Seeds will disappear if people don’t keep collecting them every year. To protect the disappearing seeds, I would like to first create awareness of the existence of such seeds and deliver them to those who want to grow them. With that in mind, I started a business when I was in the third year of junior high school.
Vegetable seeds can mostly be divided into “open pollinated seeds” and “F1 seeds,” but all the seeds handled by Kakukei Seed Distribution Promotion are open pollinated variety.
A open pollinated variety is one that produces vegetables with the same traits for many generations. On the other hand, the F1 species shows a special trait only for one generation, and the offsprings do not show the same traits as their parents. In today’s agriculture, the agricultural industry and consumers are demanding only F1 varieties that make it easy to obtain appeasing appearances of vegetables and to optimize harvest time. The situation gives Kobayashi a sense of crisis.
Kobayashi: The seeds of vegetables we call “traditional vegetables” that have been passed down from generation to generation in Japan are of open pollinated variety. However, there is almost no mechanism for distributing open pollinated seeds only at present. By collecting, selling and distributing these open pollinated seeds from all over the country, we would like to increase the chances of seeds being collected and preserved. I would like people to know more about traditional vegetables and spread the risk of the disappearing open pollinated seeds.
Furthermore, Kobayashi’s commitment is reflected in the seed bags. Kobayashi personally designed the bags and wrote all the descriptions of each of them.
Kobayashi: On the back of the bag, there is information about the characteristics of the vegetables, when they were planted, the rate of germination, etc., as well as background information such as where they were grown and how they should be eaten. We don’t use images of vegetables and plants to impress, so that people can read information such as the characteristics of the seeds and how to grow them, and convince them that they want to grow vegetables from this seed. I want everyone to relize that relationship directly with the seeds themselves.
Leaving as many seeds of today to 100 years later
Kobayashi has collected seeds all over the country and delivered them to many people. We asked him about his desire to pass down his thoughts to the future through activities to protect open pollinated seeds that have been handed down from his predecessors.
Kobayashi: Vegetables and humans are “living things” that live on the same earth. When we think of vegetables as living things, we think of how they have evolved to survive. Species also change over time. For example, the taste and shape of traditional vegetables grown from open pollinated seeds may not be exactly the same as they were in the past. I would like to accept such changes with tolerance and cherish the diversity of specieses. I think the same thing can be said about human relationships, but it would be nice if we could sustain these relationships and connections till 100 years later while changing each other.
Finally, when asked what he would like to work on to preserve the existing open pollinated seeds, he answered, “data creation.”
Kobayashi: Unless humans intervene properly, seeds will cease to exist before anyone notices them. No one knows what kind of seeds there were 100 years ago. I plan to keep data on where and what things have disappeared for the future. I would like the data to be used to protect species diversity and culture.
Another thing that Kobayashi wants to do to protect the diversity of species is to “deliver the seeds of individual breeders to the future”
Kobayashi: Currently, we purchase seeds from a seed company, but from this fall, we would like to handle seeds produced by individual breeders. Before seed companies were established in the Meiji era, it was common for individual farmers to grow their own seeds. In fact, I hear that the founder of a major seed company was originally a farmer and a talented breeder. There must be rare species that are not on the market. I think it would be nice to go back there once.
Editor’s note
By creating better seeds and through improvement of seeds by companies, we have provided vegetable farmers and consumers constant availability of delicious vegetables. On the other hand, some of the seeds that had been continuously handed down by individual farmers have disappeared. Kobayashi shared that the existence of such a seed company is one of the world of diverse seeds.
Kobayashi also shared, “Disappearing from the world is different from disappearing from everyday life.” In fact, seed companies often keep seeds as “parents” when improving seeds. Then, old Japanese seeds become parents, and new varieties created by crossbreeding are harvested overseas as vegetables suitable for the land. He was amazed at the power that one tiny seed can hold when he learned of this.
Unlike animals, only humans can take actions such as consuming only the necessary amount, appropriately protecting, and accepting diversity so that “living things” do not disappear from the earth. Kobayashi says that he believes in such “ethical” aspects of human beings and wants to protect the diversity of species.
Kobayashi’s Kakukei Seed Distribution Promotion is a platform that goes beyond the framework of a seed company that sells rare seeds and connects people and the region’s past and future. First of all, why try your hand at growing traditional vegetables by sowing open pollinated seeds from Kobayashi’s recommended beans and leafy vegetables that even beginneers will find easy to grow? Start with what we can do to protect seed diversity.
[Online shop] tells market[Reference] Protecting the diversity of seeds! University Sora Kobayashi’s challenge (Japanese)
If you would like to see the seeds from Kakukei Seed Distribution Promotion, come to MoFF 2022!
The exhibition curated by Zenbird and Lifehugger will be held in “MoFF 2022” at TRUNK HOTEL in Shibuya on Friday, Sept. 9. We will introduce Kakukei Seed Distribution Promotion at the exhibition. Please join us at MoFF 2022 to check out their product line.
Here is the link of MoFF 2022.
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