Experience Rich Soil and Vegetables in Verdant Fukaya City: Yokudo-kai's 'Hatake no Kyoshitsu' on May 16 (Sat) [Saitama]

Pal System Saitama Cooperative (Headquarters: Warabi City, Saitama Prefecture; Representative Director: Yoshiko Nishiuchi) will hold the agricultural experience event 'Hatake no Kyoshitsu' from 10:00 to 12:00 on Saturday, May 16, at Yokudo-kai Co., Ltd. (Fukaya City, Saitama Prefecture; Representative: Haruki Onozuka), a direct-from-farm partner. Participants will learn how to grow vegetables from producers in a dedicated field until September.

Experience the growth of vegetables starting from soil preparation

'Hatake no Kyoshitsu' is a series of four agricultural experience events held annually. The first session will see approximately 20 participating families explore the fields of Yokudo-kai, which cultivates over 40 varieties of vegetables annually in the verdant Fukaya City. Producers, acting as 'teachers,' will impart the secrets of cultivation using microbial farming methods, which begin with creating rich soil by utilizing organic matter such as rice straw and fallen leaves, and the power of microorganisms.

Participating families will experience harvesting, weeding, and sowing vegetables growing in the fields during the event. Annual farm work will be experienced at the 'Wakuwaku Farm,' which Yokudo-kai manages exclusively for participants. Under the guidance of the teachers, they will cooperate in managing and operating the farm, including preparations for cultivating summer vegetables like corn.

Participants will directly observe the growth of vegetables at the 'Wakuwaku Farm' during each season, experiencing the importance of agriculture, which produces food, through hands-on work with the soil.

▲Experience harvesting with producers (held in fiscal year 2025)

'Hatake no Kyoshitsu' Event Outline

[Date and Time] May 16, 2026 (Sat) 10:00-12:00

2nd session: June 6 (Sat), 3rd session: June 27 (Sat), 4th session: September 19 (Sat), all from 10:00-12:00

[Venue] Yokudo-kai (3061-4 Oka, Fukaya City, Saitama Prefecture)

[Participants] Approximately 20 user families

Deepening mutual understanding through year-round exchange

Since its establishment in 1980, Yokudo-kai has promoted environmentally friendly agriculture that relies on returning organic matter such as rice straw, oil cake, and chicken manure to the soil, creating fertile soil through microbial decomposition, and avoiding chemical fertilizers and synthetic pesticides. They formed a direct-from-farm partnership with Pal System Saitama's predecessor organization in 1983, and in 2011, together with Minami Saitama Sanchoku Network (Iwatsuki Ward, Saitama City; Representative: Hideki Suzuki) and Pal System Federation, established the Saitama Sanchoku Council 'Nō-Sai-Do'.

Through the council, producer-consumer exchange and local production for local consumption promote the development of agriculture and environmental conservation in the prefecture. Year-round exchange programs, including 'Hatake no Kyoshitsu' and the winter 'Yokudo-kai Leek Festival,' deepen mutual understanding and trust with users.

Pal System Saitama will continue to deepen cooperation with producers in the prefecture and aim for sustainable production and consumption.

Pal System Saitama Cooperative

Location: 2-10-4 Nishikicho, Warabi City, Saitama Prefecture; Representative Director: Yoshiko Nishiuchi
Capital: 9.44 billion yen; Number of members: 228,000; Total business volume: 33.15 billion yen (as of end of March 2025)
HP: https://www.palsystem-saitama.coop/

Pal System Consumers' Cooperative Union
Location: Rakuasu Higashi Shinjuku, 2-2-6 Okubo, Shinjuku-ku, Tokyo; Representative Director: Atsuyuki Shibusawa
13 member cooperatives; Total business volume of members using unified business system: 260.42 billion yen / Total number of members: 1.762 million (as of end of March 2025)
Member cooperatives: Pal System Tokyo, Pal System Kanagawa, Pal System Chiba, Pal System Saitama, Pal System Ibaraki Tochigi, Pal System Yamanashi Nagano, Pal System Gunma, Pal System Fukushima, Pal System Shizuoka, Pal System Niigata Tokimeki, Pal System Kyosairen, Saitama Workers' Cooperative, Ai Co-op Miyagi
HP: https://www.pal-system.co.jp/