Because of the heavy rain and typhoon in 2013, Nanbu Futo Negi got sick one after another. Those were not to be sold and impossible to leave results, with only three producers. In that winter, those three farmers appeared on town magazine and they tried to recruit farmers who want to join the journey of planting Nanbu Futo Negi. 10 farmers were gathered, mainly young farmers in the town who sympathized with high school students. The passionate young farmers prepared a brand-new shipping system. In 2014, they had many talks and meetings with ten farmers, discussing about every aspect of management, from planning and production to merchandising and marketing. They also made business negotiations with local supermarkets and farmer’s markets, department stores and restaurants in the metropolitan area, aiming at 2000 transactions a year. And in the end of October the hardworking farmers and high school students resulted in the first shipment. They were able to ship 2,800 leeks sharply exceeding their target of 2,000 leeks. It was a giant leap for the locals.

  Kougorou Kudo and Tadao Todome started researching about how to localize leeks in 1918. Breeding Goals of Leek: a. Winter hardness b. Resistance to bolting c. Dark green leaf blade d. Freedom from bolting e. Long shaft (the blanched pseudo-stem formed by the young folder leaf blades) length In 1955 it was finally registered to the Ministry of Agriculture, Forestry and Fisheries of that time. Although it was produced by many farmers in town, as the development of new varieties advanced and mechanization advanced, Nanbu Futo Negi followed the path of decline in a stroke. Many years later the local high school students were successful of increasing the number of seeds and had a high awareness of growing this local leek with young farmers. There is a slightly unique regulation called Nabe Ordinance in our town. On the 22nd of every month, you shall eat Nabe the big Japanese stew saying toot! toot! by surrounding the hot pot with family and friends, talk and laugh a lot. Both a vegetable and a condiment, the leek has always enhanced a wide variety of dishes with its unique aroma. Actually, the leek can be eaten at all stages of its growth and is far more delicate tasting and tender if picked young. And this is the stage at which our leeks are now. The trenches are to facilitate blanching. As the leek grows the trenches are progressively filled with soil thus creating the long white stem prized for cooking. The time involved in trenching and the four to five months or so required for growth are the main reasons leeks are more expensive than other vegetables in the onion family. While uncooked leeks are strong tasting and not appealing in texture, cooking them, whether, braising, steaming, or boiling, transforms them into a smooth tasting, delicate, comfort food. Leeks appear in numerous surviving recipes. You will enjoy Toast, Kakiage, Tempura, Sukiyaki, Teriyaki, Sumiso-ae, Kimpira and more. As a local traditional vegetable, you can also see them in the local school lunch. When we offered our leeks together with local cuisine of the Tohoku region called “Hit-tsu-mi” in October 2017, it was a pleasant result that kids did not leave anything behind the dish. No leftovers! Everyone liked it. To add more, from customers who bought at department stores in the city area sent us letters saying “what a touching story of this good old leek!” “We loved the taste of this leek, so unique!” The thoughts of high school students are propagated to young farmers and had become a “symbol” of the area by involving the town. This is the true meaning of Value-Added Product.