① What made you decide to become a farmer?

Growing up in a salaryman's familyGood morning! My name is Ryotaro Isozaki. I am a full-time farmer who has been practicing Hideaki Natural Farming for six years. First, I would like to tell you the story of how I grew up in a salaryman's family and became a farmer practicing natural farming.

I grew up in Hirakata City, Osaka, in a typical Showa-era family where my grandfather had been a businessman. Everyone on my father's side was a businessman, and no one ever thought I'd become a farmer. Even now people find it very strange. I've always loved studying. I love things that you can do on your own. I graduated from a private high school in Osaka and went to Waseda University in Tokyo. I majored in Eastern philosophy, and the topic of my graduation thesis was "The Philosophical Development of Early Buddhism." It took me five years to finally graduate from university.

My first encounter with natural farming was when I was 24 years old and helped out with natural farming for a year. I managed to graduate from university, but was just hanging around my hometown without looking for a job when Uno-san, who was practicing natural farming, approached me and taught me how to grow rice for a year.

I went into the rice fields, weeded, and harvested the rice, and at the time I thought, "What a healthy lifestyle! It would be great if I could make a living like this." After that, I traveled to various parts of the world, breathed in the air of freedom and experienced the wonder of agricultural life, and realized the wonder of life.

After that, he worked as an organization employee, and in 2013, he trained at a friend's tea farm for six months. In 2014, he became independent and started farming at the age of 30. Even though he started farming, he didn't have a field to work on, so he was in a part-time job situation. In June of that year, he married his girlfriend, with whom he had been engaged for six years.

She is a miracle woman who married me when I had no money, no status, and only hope. (Laughs) I am amazed at her foresight. Soon after, I found out she was pregnant with our first child, and I suddenly had to take on the responsibility of raising a family and earn a living through natural farming, despite having almost no experience.

②Start natural farming.

We started natural farming in 2014 without having any farmland. At first, we couldn't make a living from farming alone, so Mr. Doi from the Hideaki Natural Farming Network approached us and hired us as associate staff at the Hideaki Natural Farming Network Kansai office.

I continued working as a part-time farmer for about two and a half years while helping out with the work of the Hideaki Natural Farming Network. Together with my seniors, I organized workshops on reforming distribution and for producers, and through the many learning experiences and encounters I had, my feelings for producers grew stronger.

The system I designed has made work much more efficient, so I don't have much to do anymore. Just as AI is taking away people's jobs, the system I created has taken away my job (laughs).

Also, Atsumi-san called out to us and we were able to borrow the rice fields and fields that were being used by a collaborator named Yamamoto Ryokuro-san. He taught us the techniques and we were able to learn little by little. Tea growing, rice fields, fields. Although it was a small space, we were able to learn the basics.

Thankfully, we were introduced to a tea farm by Kihara-san from Ujitawara-cho, whom we met at a Hideaki Natural Farming Network social gathering in 2014. This small farm became the birthplace of our tea growing.

It was through the Hideaki Natural Farming Network that I met these three people, Mr. Doi, Mr. Kihara, and Mr. Atsumi, that our natural farming method began to take shape.

My first son was born in February 2015. This meant I had no choice but to work harder at farming.

With the help of Mr. Hosonaga, who has now passed away, we started our natural farming with a small rice field of only six acres. At that time, I didn't have a car yet, so he lent me his car.

This was my first tea harvest in Ujitawara. This year, I only made roasted green tea.

The first product was completed. It was a cute design and was very popular with children. However, it was too expensive, so the following year we changed to a cheaper design.