Hachimantai City, Iwate Prefecture, in a heavy snowfall area. In the land surrounded by snow, there is a plastic greenhouse that grows summer vegetable peppers. Bell peppers raised in Iwate in the middle of winter were shipped to some Lawsons in the prefecture for the first time on March 1.

This bell pepper was cultivated by a joint project between Hachimantai City and Lawson, utilizing the waste heat of a geothermal power plant and an abandoned greenhouse. (For details, please see this article ⇒ " Cultivating peppers in Iwate in the middle of winter !? Eco-friendly vegetable growing with geothermal power generation ")

The Hachimantai Geothermal Power Generation Project is cultivating locally. When I visited Mr. Yoshinobu Funabashi, the representative of Geofarm Hachimantai, the base, a gentleman on a horse welcomed me . The day will come when you will experience "Prince Charming's welcome" ...! The interviewers are very excited.

I like horses too much for agriculture

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If you follow Mr. Funabashi (on foot!), You will find horses, horses, and horses everywhere. It has nothing to do with bell pepper cultivation.




Geofarm Hachimantai is not a ranch. The main products are "horse manure compost" and "mushrooms". We are farming using geothermal power generation.

Mr. Funabashi has loved horses since he was young. It seems that he spent his days spending all the money he earned from his part-time job on horses-although he is the one who rides (equestrian competition). My previous job was also a horse-raising job. It was a life of "horse exhaustion" that had nothing to do with agriculture.

Under such circumstances, I wondered if I could manage the reality that most of the retired racehorses would be slaughtered, so I started working on horse manure compost. At Geofarm Hachimantai, we take retired thoroughbreds and make compost from their horse manure.

Horses have only one stomach, so they are inefficient in digestion, eat large amounts of grass, and produce dung with plenty of fiber. Horses that eat good food can get good horse manure, and when fermented, it becomes good compost. The compost produced in this way is sold at local roadside stations and is also used for green pepper cultivation. The bell peppers grown with 100% horse manure compost had very little harshness and had a refreshing taste.


Was the mushroom born of a horse?

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Another signboard product "Mushroom". What kind of horse does this have to do with it?

In fact, it is said that mushrooms were discovered in the straw laid on the bed of the stable. There is also talk that cultivation with horse manure compost is optimal. Horses and mushrooms have a mysterious connection from the sieve.

90% of mushrooms are water. Mushrooms grown in the clean water of Hachimantai have a very gorgeous and clear taste when eaten raw. When I put it in Ahijo or tomato stew at a later date, the taste was not lost even if it was stewed for a long time, and it was very popular with my family.



By the way, have you ever seen mushrooms growing? From the medium made from compost, etc., Nyoki Nyoki and Poko Poko. The round head is looking into the face.


It is said that the medium after harvesting can be reused as a high-quality organic fertilizer. This is sown on the pasture, and the grown grass is eaten by the horse, which eventually becomes horse manure compost. And if you can grow mushrooms with the horse manure compost, you can make full use of local resources for agriculture. Mr. Funabashi envisions such a future.


So that horses can live happily

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Mr. Funabashi, also known as "Prince Charming," who appears on a horse and talks about horses with a loving look (to the horses). In the future, he says he would like to expand the cultivation of bell peppers and explore various paths.

All from the desire for horses to have a good life, no, a "horse student". In the label of vegetables from Geofarm Hachimantai, horses gently snuggle up to the vegetables.