Aiming for Circular Agriculture with Functional Tomatoes #April Dream

We support the 'April Dream' project, which aims to make April 1st a day to share dreams. This press release is the dream of 'Village Kaihatu Co., Ltd. Next-Generation Farm Denden-mura.' Village Kaihatu Co., Ltd. (Headquarters: Anjo City, Aichi Prefecture; https://village-kaihatu.jp/) aims to create a prosperous rural city through synergies with its core real estate business, via its agricultural division, Next-Generation Farm Denden-mura (Location: Kariya City, Aichi Prefecture; https://dendenmura.com/). We face the social issues visible from this perspective and challenge ourselves to solve them. ■ Background of the Dream Due to the declining birthrate and aging population, we are receiving more consultations regarding the sale of farmland due to farmers retiring and an increase in abandoned farmland. As a local real estate company, Village Kaihatu Co., Ltd. faced this reality and began cultivating the functional labeled food 'Uru-Tsuya Tomato' in September 2022 in a greenhouse named 'Next-Generation Farm Denden-mura.' Our dream is: 'To realize circular agriculture in a garden city with a balance between farmland and residential land!' ■ Circular Agriculture Initiatives at Next-Generation Farm Denden-mura We use cooling fans connected to well water via discarded car radiators to perform summer cultivation for crops planted in June. This is more energy-efficient than air conditioning and helps combat extreme heat. 'White Koji Tomato Sour' from Denden-mura is made using cracked 'Uru-Tsuya Tomatoes' that appear frequently during the summer when liquid fertilizer is heavily used. Since the shelf life of this sparkling alcohol is 6 months, compared to 3 days for preservative-free tomato juice, it also serves as a food loss countermeasure. For our 'Uru-Tsuya Tomatoes,' we create cardboard boxes mixed with 10% of the stems and leaves residue generated weekly (over 100kg) during the cultivation period and deliver them to our customers. We believe such activities will lead to the realization of regional circular agriculture, and we will continue to work towards this goal. * 'April Dream' is a project by PR TIMES where companies share the dreams they want to achieve in the future on April 1st. We are seriously aiming to realize this dream.