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Contributing to the healthy mind and body development of children with delicious local vegetables

Farmers harvest fresh vegetables the day before and deliver them directly to local elementary and junior high schools the next morning. The Mishima City School Lunch Agricultural Producer Research Group has been practicing the ideal form of local production for local consumption for about 15 years. Mishima City, a city that promotes food education, is now indispensable for school lunches, but when it was first established, the term ``shokuiku'' was not even widely known. At first, it was a struggle to recruit producers for vegetable items in order to gain approval from the dietician who prepares menus and orders ingredients. After that, we steadily gained trust by standardizing prices throughout the year, which tend to be unstable in the market, and by holding eye-matching meetings and striving for quality control. Even now, we regularly hold field tours for nutritionists and social gatherings where members enjoy school lunches with students, deepening their bonds with each other. ``We will continue to provide high-quality vegetables, so that people will feel safe knowing that this association exists after all,'' Chairman Masatoshi Hayashi said. The association's delicious local vegetables foster a healthy mind and body and love for the local area in Mishima's children.

<Contact> Mishima City School Lunch Agricultural Producers Research Group
[Address] 1-10 Taishacho, Mishima City (inside Mishima City Agricultural Administration Division)
[Telephone number] 055-983-2652

At the exchange event, cultivated crops were displayed at the school along with photos of the producers. Children's understanding of local vegetables and agriculture will also deepen.

Mishima City, which has a good climate including the western foothills of Hakone, is one of the prefecture's leading vegetable producing areas. Field tours will also be held for nutritionists from each school and elementary school students.

Reporting the award to Mayor Mishima (center). Toyooka Mayor's left is Chairman Masatoshi Hayashi, and his right is Advisor Masahiro Sugimoto. The current 13 members say, ``Everyone is competing and having fun.''