NPO ZESDA
[Noto Peninsula Earthquake] Crowdfunding has started for the restoration of damaged mushroom bed Shiitake cultivation facilities My late father’s wish: I want to pass on to future generations the shiitake mushrooms that won the grand prize at the fair.
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We would like to express our deepest sympathies to those affected by the 2020 Noto Peninsula Earthquake. ZESDA, a specified non-profit organization (Representative Director: Daisuke Sakuraba, location: Chuo-ku, Tokyo, hereinafter referred to as NPO ZESDA), is supporting the restoration of a shiitake mushroom cultivation facility in Noto Town that was devastated by the Noto Peninsula Earthquake. It is working. As part of this, we would like to inform you that we have started crowdfunding on February 23, 2020, with the aim of supporting the purchase of fungal bed blocks.
[Image 1: https://prtimes.jp/i/113255/45/resize/d113255-45-79271de6b00125ce1dd5-0.jpg&s3=113255-45-8da126b4f502728883724f8d7e82eac1-960×540.jpg] ■Mr. and Mrs. Ueno grow Shiitake mushrooms in Noto Town
My husband and I run a mushroom farm that we inherited from our father. Although we also produce wood ear mushrooms, our main product is overwhelmingly shiitake mushrooms.
The town of Noto, where we live, was the first in Japan to be certified as a World Agricultural Heritage Site, and has clear air, clean water, and a rich climate.
Among these areas, the Yanagida area, which is at a higher altitude, has a large temperature difference and is the perfect place for Shiitake mushrooms to grow.
We, “Agricultural Cooperative Corporation No Tokko,” are the president of Seiji Ueno (45), my husband’s mother, and 3 employees and 6 part-time employees.
The company is managed by the president’s wife, Tomoko Ueno (45). My wife, Tomoko Ueno, is writing this on behalf of her husband, who is still busy responding to the situation at the scene.
I am from Kanazawa City.
After getting married, I moved to Noto Town, where my husband’s parents lived. My late father, who was the founder of the company, is my husband’s biological father (from my wife’s point of view, he is my
father-in-law).
My father was a man devoted to cultivating shiitake mushrooms, and was the kind of person who would stare straight at shiitake mushrooms every day.
He never rested, even on rainy or snowy days, leaving the house before the sun came up and working until late at night.
As a result, my husband says he has almost no recollection of his father playing with him.
Perhaps my husband inherited his father’s personality, he is a serious and sincere person who tackles everything with precision.
The shiitake mushrooms that her husband cultivates grow straight and beautifully, as if to reflect his personality.
[Image 2: https://prtimes.jp/i/113255/45/resize/d113255-45-a131c73a0854d63199d9-1.jpg&s3=113255-45-70e49a1342150da944d3831f12eb3527-736×491.jpg] ▲Mr. and Mrs. Ueno
[Image 3: https://prtimes.jp/i/113255/45/resize/d113255-45-53f0a263809a4c731983-2.jpg&s3=113255-45-5fb3fe573fdb22d60da5a1d8511c56fe-736×688.jpg] ▲Won the highest award at the competition
■Life completely changed by the Noto Peninsula earthquake
On January 1st, I left my husband at home and was shopping with my three daughters when I left the store by myself in my car to mail New Year’s cards.
Landslides occurred due to a major earthquake with a seismic intensity of 7. I was separated from my daughters because the road I had originally come was no longer passable.
My daughter was still in the first grade of elementary school, so I was so worried that I burst into tears.
In the end, I stayed at a different evacuation center with my daughters that day, and was reunited with them the next day. For the next two weeks, I lived in an evacuation center.
On the other hand, my husband, who had gone to check on the
cultivation house early, seemed speechless when he saw the
devastation.
Still, we decided to think about what we could do for the community, so we donated the shiitake mushrooms that were scheduled to be shipped to evacuation centers and nursing homes.
If I heard there was a place that was running a soup kitchen, I would take it there.
After two weeks, the evacuation center was disbanded and we were finally able to think about ourselves.
We used to harvest and ship about 200 kg of shiitake mushrooms every day, but now we can only harvest about 10% of that.
The family business, which has finally gotten back on track, is once again being tested by the earthquake.
Harvesting high-quality shiitake mushrooms takes about five months to cultivate, so if you want to get them in time for the autumn season, you will have to buy them again in May at the latest.
However, there is no prospect of securing that amount of money. My husband and I talked about it, and the two words “going out of business” crossed my mind.
Meanwhile, we received messages from business partners saying, “We are waiting for delicious shiitake mushrooms,” and “Don’t give up.” We want to meet the expectations of those who are waiting for our shiitake mushrooms.
I can’t let the important family business I inherited from my father end here. I want to continue making shiitake mushrooms
I wanted to keep moving forward and not give up, in order to give hope to the children and the community.
■Earthquake damage situation
The shiitake mushrooms we produce are grown with careful attention to quality such as shape and size, and we sell them to Ningyocho Imahan, a famous sukiyaki restaurant, as well as department stores across the country.
However, most of the fungus bed blocks in the eight greenhouses fell down due to the earthquake that hit the Noto Peninsula.
A mushroom bed block is like a small field where you can harvest shiitake mushrooms.
If a fungal bed block falls onto the ground and receives a shock even once, its growth will be poor and it will likely become substandard, making it impossible to ship, resulting in actual losses of over 15 million yen for the fungal bed block alone.
[Image 4: https://prtimes.jp/i/113255/45/resize/d113255-45-66d9abe4c99f48f546ff-3.jpg&s3=113255-45-39129d4553e48e10d61852879a739074-736×552.jpg] ▲Most of the fungal bed blocks fell off the shelves due to the earthquake. ■Request for support
Due to damage to production equipment such as the shiitake mushroom cultivation house, our income has drastically decreased, and we do not have enough funds to purchase mushroom bed blocks that will allow us to harvest from autumn until next spring. Purchasing as usual is not financially possible.
Therefore, we are planning to first secure enough funds to build one cultivation house and continue production.
Each building has 6,500 fungal beds, so in order to purchase fungal bed blocks that cost 330 yen each, we need 2 million yen in funds. If we can purchase blocks and start managing them around May at the latest, we will be able to maintain the employment of our employees and have a cash flow forecast to continue our business.
We appreciate your support so that we can pass down Shiitake mushrooms, which are the fruit of my father’s efforts and are a treasure of our region, to future generations.
■Project overview and use of collected funds
All of the funds raised will be used to purchase fungal bed blocks at shiitake mushroom cultivation facilities that were damaged by the Noto Peninsula Earthquake. With this funding, we will purchase the first fungal bed block and resume cultivation in earnest around May.By refinancing the funds, we hope to gradually resume cultivation in all eight buildings. Masu.
・Target amount: 2,000,000 yen
・Support return: From 3,000 yen We offer various rewards such as Noto shiitake curry and shiitake mushroom harvesting experience.
・Support recruitment period: Until 11:00 pm on April 30, 2020 ・Details and support application: https://readyfor.jp/projects/138136 ■NPO ZESDA “Shunran no Sato Project”
ZESDA, an NPO, has been implementing the “Shunran no Sato Project” for the past six years to support the Shunran no Sato, a group of farm guesthouses in Oku-Noto, Ishikawa Prefecture. We have built
relationships of trust with people. This time, we helped create a website for crowdfunding.
https://zesda.jp/syunran_project/
We appreciate your support and cooperation.
More details about this release:
https://prtimes.jp/main/html/rd/p/000000045.000113255.html