World-famous food: Boxes containing sawdust keep their white appearance by moisturizing and cushioning, and individually wrapped boxes are put in a special pressure-bonded film to maintain the same level as sawdust. For processing, 6L and 5L are for export. A manufacturing information bar code (standard, manufacturing date, box unique number, producer number) is attached to each shipping box. By printing the number and sorting time, traceability is possible for each individual fruit. The public is paying close attention to COVID-19 as a food that improves immunity and overcomes from within.

十勝川西長いも

【種類】

Dioscorea polystachya Turcz.

【生産地】

北海道帯広市川西町（JA帯広かわにし, 十勝川西長いもグループ）

【名前の由来】

It’s named because the succulent roots in the basement are longer than the yams.

【主な特徴】

In November 2022, harvesting of “Tokachi Kawanishi long yam” produced in 10 JA under the jurisdiction has started in various places. Chinese yam, characterized by its fine white flesh and stickiness, are shipped domestically and internationally as a high-quality brand. It has been branded as being registered under the national geographical indication (GI) protection system. Toyokoro Town joined this year, and it seems that 262 households of 10 JA, including Obihiro Kawanishi and Memuro, have planted in 545 hectares of fields. Although it was difficult to manage due to the heavy rain, the yield and quality seemed to be on par with the average year. It seems that the total yield is expected to be 22,000 tons. 70% of the crop is harvested in the fall, and the rest is harvested in the spring and shipped throughout the year. Harvest start dates are aligned to ensure uniform quality. Registration number: 21, Name: TOKACHI KAWANISHI NAGAIMO, Classification Vegetables / Grains Registration date, 2016/10/12, Produced in Obihiro City, Memuro Town, Nakasatsunai Village, Shimizu Town, Shintoku Town, Hokkaido, section of village Takashima, Ikeda Town, Ashoro Town, Urahoro Town Contact information: Tokachi Kawanishi Nagaimo Steering Committee, Kawanishi Town, Obihiro City, Hokkaido. “Tokachi Kawanishi Nagaimo” is a kind of “Chinese yam (variety of Dioscorea opposita)” with a short bowl shape. Both the skin and flesh are characterized by their white appearance and resistance to browning. Compared to other production areas, the skin and cross-section of the edible part are white, and the moisture content is as low as 83.1%, and the starch content is as high as 12 g per 100 g of the product, resulting in high viscosity and elasticity and high breakage of the edible part. Show strength. In terms of sales, exports to Taiwan have been stable since 1999, and it seems that the whiter and tastier than the locally produced ones are highly appreciated by the wealthy class. In addition, it is popular as a medicinal ingredient in the United States and Singapore, and I hear that exports are increasing. In addition, in order to establish technology to select and secure seed potatoes, and to meet the needs of the market and consumers, we overwintered yam, which is usually harvested in autumn, and shipped it all year round. We have received multiple awards, including the award (in 2007, we thoroughly enforced basic techniques such as soil preparation for the production of high-quality yam, established techniques for selecting and securing seed potatoes, and responded to the needs of the market and consumers. In 2013, it won the Emperor’s Cup at the 46th Agriculture, Forestry and Fisheries Festival in recognition of the achievement of year-round shipments by overwintering yam, which is usually harvested in the fall, and harvesting in the spring. Received the Hokkaido Shimbun Culture Award, and in 2015 the Food Industry Bureau Director-General’s Award for Best Practices in the Sixth Industrialization). The seeds (seed potatoes) used in Tokachi Kawanishi Yam were introduced in 1971. It seems that seed potatoes have been repeatedly selected and bred as excellent seeds in order to adapt to the cultivation environment of this region and bring out the characteristics such as shape, color and texture. The seeds are strictly controlled by distributing only the necessary amount according to the cultivation area. The harvesting date is set every year to prevent browning and reduce scum. Harvested Chinese yams are packed in boxes with sawdust to retain their white appearance due to moisture retention and cushioning, and then shipped. In addition, the climate of the Tokachi region where it is cultivated is cool, with long hours of sunshine in summer and a large temperature difference between day and night, which suppresses rapid growth. Slow growth increases the content of ingredients such as starch, and the low temperature at night suppresses respiration and inhibits the production of polyphenols that cause browning, resulting in white skin and flesh. It seems that it is considered. Cultivation soil is black soil formed by volcanic ash ejected from volcanoes around the Shikotsu caldera, carried by westerly winds and piled up to form a layer of volcanic ash. A particularly thick layer of humus remains, which is well-drained and has a short bowl shape said to be suitable for maintenance. In this way, it is thought that the unique climate and black soil of this region express the characteristics of “Tokachi Kawanishi Chinese yam”. It started in 1971 with the establishment of the Kawanishi Sosai Association, and in 1984 the production volume reached about 1,800 tons. As a local specialty product, it has steadily gained support, and against the backdrop of a rapid increase in market needs, production expanded over a wide area from around 1985. In 1991, the production volume exceeded 10,000 tons, and in the following year, sorting fields and storage facilities were established to maintain quality and stabilize shipping. Around this time, inquiries from overseas began to increase, and in 1999, exports to Taiwan and other East Asian regions began, and in 2007, exports to the United States began. In order to meet the needs of the global market, shipments are being made all year round, and it seems that the production volume has reached over 20,000 tons. The production volume (harvest volume) of Japanese yam has remained around 200,000 tons for the past few years, and in 2007, about 15 years ago, it was 190,400 tons. By prefecture, Aomori Prefecture accounted for 38%, followed by Hokkaido with 34%, and these two prefectures accounted for about 70% of the total. In Hokkaido, it is produced in a wide area from Hakodate to Kitami, and among them, the Tokachi region including Obihiro seems to be a major production area boasting 80% of Hokkaido’s production volume. Obihiro City is located in the eastern part of Hokkaido, almost in the center of the Tokachi Plain. Agriculture expanded. JA Obihiro Kawanishi (established in April 2003 through the merger of the Obihiro Kawanishi Agricultural Cooperative and the Obihiro City Agricultural Cooperative) seems to have been triggered by the slump in agricultural product prices due to an increase in food imports beginning in the late 1955s. As a result of searching for highly profitable vegetables as a voluntary initiative of about 30 producers, nagaimo is suitable for the climate conditions with large temperature differences and well-drained soil, and is of good quality. It seems that it was decided to incorporate this into the crop rotation system because continuous harvesting became possible. It seems that what he worked on for full-scale production was the establishment of a seed potato cultivation system and the mechanization of work. First, with regard to the seed system, producers themselves repeatedly selected individual seed potatoes from Yubari, which was the largest production area in Hokkaido at the time. established as soon as possible. Currently, in order to secure disease-free potato varieties that are uniform in shape and have excellent traits, the basic seeds are cultivated in a test field managed by JA for 6 years, and diseased strains are jointly extracted. It seems that they have made every effort to eradicate viral diseases through implementation. In addition, since the mid-1965s, mechanization has been in progress since the mid-1965s, such as trenchers (machines for plowing fields before planting. Long yam roots are deep in the ground, so they soften the soil 20 cm wide and 1 m deep) and backhoes (during harvesting). It seems that they introduced large machines such as heavy machines that dig trenches for workers to enter (originally construction machines) to improve the efficiency of the work from field preparation to harvesting. As a result of these efforts, in 1979, in addition to the producers in the jurisdiction, neighboring Memuro Town began production, and the planted area gradually expanded, and in the latter half of the 1975s, production exceeded 100 tons. For this reason, in order to form a production area, it was decided that year-round shipment through a wide-area collection and sales system that transcended the boundaries of JA Nakasatsunaimura and towns and villages was essential. Inauguration. Currently, in addition to Memuro and Nakasatsunai, 6 JAs, Ashoro, Urahoro, Shintoku, and Tokachishimizu, are participating in raw material production, and it seems that JA Obihiro Kawanishi is able to collect and ship all year round as multi-source sales. Thanks to the success of various efforts made by our predecessors, the production volume has almost consistently increased. As the production volume increases and it is shipped to the market throughout the year as a major production area, the price drops during a good harvest and the fat (4L standard: 1,400 g) is cut and sold, so it can only be sold at the same price as non-standard products. It seems that you are facing problems such as Especially in 1999, due to the increase in the ratio of fat fish due to a good harvest and concerns about a decline in market prices, we started exporting to Taiwan with the aim of maintaining prices in the domestic market and expanding sales channels for fat fish. In Taiwan, the medical community positioned Chinese yam as an herbal medicine, and it came to be valued as a health food. An intermediate wholesaler in the Kansai region, who took note of the health-consciousness and medicinal food boom in Japan, began exporting Tokachi Kawanishi Chinese yam on a trial basis. Production requires an initial investment of 10 million yen per hectare, including procurement costs for various materials such as large machinery, low-temperature storage for storing seed potatoes, and containers for harvesting, and 10 ares to secure reproduction. It seems that gross income of 600,000 yen per person is required. Under such circumstances, the lack of successors seems to be the result of securing a satisfactory income level through the production and export of a highly profitable crop called nagaimo. In March 2008, JA Obihiro Kawanishi acquired ‘HACCP’ certification, the international standard for food sanitation management, at its Nagaimo cleaning and sorting facility within its Beppu office. Acquisition of certification by a sorting plant for agricultural products is a rarity in the world. It seems that this is an upfront investment for our descendants to continue farming here in Obihiro. Cultivation requires no gravel in the topsoil up to a depth of 1.5 m. It is common to maintain it in the ground before and after, and it seems that the current situation is that the farmland that can be planted is limited. In the future, in order to expand production over a wide area within the crop rotation system, it seems essential to develop deep culverts by utilizing infrastructure development projects. In April 2013, the JA, which had been considering commercializing non-standard products such as scraps of yam, commercialized peeled yam at the yam cleaning and sorting facility at the JA Beppu Office (Beppu Town, Obihiro City) on the 25th work has begun. It has become possible to ship it in a form that is easy to process as grated yam and pickles, and to sell it with added value. It seems that the scraps discharged at the fruit sorting plant and non-standard products that cannot be shipped have been supplied as livestock feed at a low price of 0.5 yen per kg. With the price of feed soaring, is the new experiment that has been going on for about nine years being used? In response to the globalization of food manufacturing and distribution, the revised Food Sanitation Law passed in June 2018 has made it mandatory to introduce HACCP in Japan from June 1, 2020. A hygiene control method devised to ensure the safety of space food during the American Apollo program. Since then, it has been recognized by the food industry and gradually spread throughout the world, and is now an international method of hygiene management. As for the meaning, it is a coined word that takes the initials of “Hazard, Analysis, Critical, Control, Point”. HA: Hazard Analysis: Harmful microorganisms, chemical substances, and foreign substances (metals, etc.) that may occur when they are mixed or proliferated in food from raw materials or during the manufacturing process. (adverse impact on the environment), clarify how to manage them, and formulate rules. CCP: Critical, Control, Point: A particularly important manufacturing point based on HA (Hazard Analysis) in order to reliably reduce or eliminate food hazards to the extent that they do not harm health. Manage the processing process. HACCP means subdividing the manufacturing process and performing risk management for each process. In addition, the SQF written on the JA box is a food product that covers the entire food chain, from primary production to processing, transportation, and distribution, owned and managed by the Food Marketing Institute (FMI) in the United States. It is a certification standard for safety and quality control. It is a feature, but since it is a product certification, line certification is possible. Classification of requirements for each industrial field. Three authentication levels are set. LEVEL1: Fundamentals of food safety. LEVEL2: HACCP-based food safety plan (Level 2 and above is a GFSI approved scheme). LEVEL3: Comprehensive food safety and quality management system. For LEVEL3 certification, it is possible to affix the SQF shield (a mark that certifies certification) to products. Rating by judging score. Perry Johnson Registrars Food Safety, Inc. (PJRFSI) of the United States is provided based on the certification received from ANSI (American National Standards Institute). Segmentation of requirements by industry sector: The SQF Code consists of Part A, Part B and annexes. Part A provides a general description of the implementation and maintenance of the SQF provisions, Part B defines requirements for Good Manufacturing Practices (GMP) and Good Agricultural Practices (GAP) in a modular format, and includes a common “Module 2: In addition to “SQF System Elements”, modules 3 to 15 categorize the requirements for each industry sector. It is also divided into three levels. “Tokachi Kawanishi Nagaimo” grown in the fertile land of Tokachi, Hokkaido. It seems that the temperature difference between day and night is fine, and it grows excellent agricultural products with pure white flesh and stickiness. Currently, it is produced in 10 JAs: JA Obihiro Kawanishi, JA Memuro, JA Nakasatsunai Village, JA Ashoro, JA Urahoro Town, JA Shintoku Town, JA Tokachi Shimizu Town, JA Tokachi Ikeda Town, JA Shikaoi Town, and JA Toyokoro Town. There are “autumn digging”, which is planted in spring and harvested in autumn, and “spring digging”, which is harvested in the spring of the following year after wintering in the soil. The regional collective trademark system started in April 2006, and in November 2006, the trademark registration was approved as “Tokachi Kawanishi Chinese yam”. In March 2008, the Tokachi Kawanishi long fruit sorting plant acquired HACCP certification. The acquisition of HACCP certification, an international certification system for food hygiene management, by a vegetable sorting plant was unprecedented in the world. Registration under the Geographical Indication Protection System started in December 2015, and in October 2016 it was registered as “Tokachi Kawanishi Chinese Yam”. By registering geographical indications, it is possible to clearly indicate even overseas that the product is a regional brand product with guaranteed quality. In April 2017, Tokachi Kawanishi Nagaimo cleaning and sorting facility acquired SQF certification. Is an international standard that indicates that food is safe and of high quality, and the examination standards are the highest in the world. It seems that not only the facilities of the agricultural cooperative but also individual farmers are required to carry out the necessary hygiene management thoroughly. Obihiro City is famous as a city with a population of about 170,000, located almost in the center of the Tokachi region in eastern Hokkaido. Full-scale development began in 1883, and systematic urbanization was carried out, including a grid-like road network. In addition, it is the center of the Tokachi region (approximately 340,000 people, 1 city, 16 towns and 2 villages), where agriculture is the main industry, and plays a role as an agricultural product accumulation area and a commercial city. The area is 619.34 km2 (almost the same as Tokyo’s 23 wards), and the southwestern part is occupied by the Hidaka Mountains, and 10% of the city area is designated as the “Hidaka Mountains Erimo Quasi-National Park”. In addition, the Satsunai River, Obihiro River, and Tottabetsu River flow out from the mountains, and the water of the Satsunai River is used as raw water for tap water. On the other hand, about half of the flat land in the central and northeastern part of the city, which accounts for about 60% of the city area, is agricultural land, and is one of the largest dry-field farming and dairy farming areas in Japan. The urban area is located at the northeastern edge of the city limits, adjacent to the Tokachi River and Satsunai River, which have the 6th largest basin area in Japan. In 1902, Shimoobihiro Sotohachi Village became the first town in Tokachi, Obihiro Town. After that, in the Taisho era, part of Fushiko village was incorporated, and the population grew to about 8,500 people. A city is born. Agriculture in Tokachi at that time suffered from frequent poor harvests, and it seems that there was no end to the number of people leaving the farm due to the recession. However, with the outbreak of World War I in 1914, food shortages in Europe caused Obihiro’s exports of beans via Otaru Port to increase with the opening of the Kushiro Line (now the Nemuro Main Line). Therefore, it seems that the soybean economy was booming. It seems that the self-sufficient frontier farmers have become able to engage in agriculture with confidence. At the same time, with the shift from manpower to horse power, the scale of farming progressed and agriculture progressed further. The opening of the railway between Obihiro-Kushiro in 1905 and the railway between Obihiro-Asahikawa in 1905 seems to have been a factor in the development of Obihiro. In addition, the Shihoro Line, Hiroo Line, and Tokachi Railway were opened, and Tokachi laid the foundations for export crop production centered on millet, and Obihiro Town became Tokachi’s agricultural product distribution market and commercial center. As a result, grain merchants who used to trade in Asahikawa and Kushiro moved to Obihiro, and Obihiro began to develop as a “commercial city.” Around 1930, Ginza-gai (currently Hirahara-dori Shopping Street) and Yamado-dori (currently Hirokoji Shopping Street) were formed, becoming the center of today’s Obihiro. The 73rd Japan School Agricultural Club National Tournament, called “Agricultural High School Koshien”, ended on October 27, 2020 in Hokuriku. It seems that the Minister of Agriculture, Forestry and Fisheries Award, which is the best in category 1 (production, distribution, and management), was won by students from Miyagi Prefecture Agricultural High School in the project presentation and Hokkaido Obihiro Agricultural High School in the opinion presentation. There were three divisions, 1 to 3, for project presentations in which teams competed and opinion presentations in which individuals participated. Type 1 presents research results and thoughts on improving productivity, consumption and distribution of agricultural products. Zero use of plastic-coated fertilizers by 2030. Miyagi Prefectural Agricultural High School is said to have led to this move by related organizations. Developed ureaform fertilizer with long-lasting ingredients to prevent plastic husks from flowing into the ocean. It can be expected to have the same effect as plastic fertilizer, and it seems that it has been confirmed in the test that the yield and taste are improved compared to conventional ones. A student from Hokkaido Obihiro Agricultural High School seems to have learned the fun of farming from the experience of finding the best spacing between rows and plants for each crop to improve productivity, and strongly expressed his determination to take over the family farming business. In 2006, Tokachi Taro Chinese yam proliferated 33 individuals and investigated the above-ground and underground parts, and selected 4 individuals with clearly large larvae. In 2007, 8 seed yam were cut from each individual and propagated, and in 2008, 4 strains were tested in the field.
We selected the one with the largest diameter (“TB0804”). In 2009, it was proliferated, and in 2010, as a result of a preliminary test for productivity verification, it was recognized as promising, so the local number of “Tokachi No. 4 Chinese yam” was selected.
From 2011, the productivity test, characteristic test, regional adaptability test, and quality survey have been implemented. As a result, “Tokachi No. 4 Chinese yam” achieved the initial goal (high yield), and other characteristics were recognized to be equivalent to the existing major Chinese yam lines. After passing through the Hokkaido Agricultural Experimental Conference, it was certified as an excellent variety of Hokkaido by the Hokkaido Agricultural Products Superior Variety Certification Committee in the same year. As of August 2014, a new variety “Tokachi Taro Chinese yam” is under application for registration (announced on March 4, 2014).