DEC. 2021

Boys be ambitious~An inspirational story from Ambitious farm~
Li Shu, Suda Naoto, Nakaguki Maki

after graduating from the university,
he went to work for a specialized
What is considered a perfect job?
trading company. While working forEveryone has his/her own answer.
the trading company, he had a strong
Factors such as salary, workplace,colleagues, recognition, etc, are a part desire to work as a farmer later in hisof the consideration. On top of that, career. A few years after he started
one’s personality and career goals may working, he decided to start farming to
do what he really wanted to do, which
affect a lot.
was to create something from scratch.
In this article, we introduce Mr.
Kashiwamura and his perfect job. Mr. In launching his farming business, heKashiwamura is running a vegetable and his friend, Mr. Ito (co-founder),farm in Ebetsu with fellow workers established an agricultural production
corporation, Ambitious Farm
after working for a long time in atrading company. What is he seeking in Corporation, in 2014. When he started
this field and how is he taking steps Ambitious Farm he had a clear
agricultural vision. The vision is totowards it? Let’s take a look.
have a business model where they canMr. Kashiwamura and his
directly connect with their customers.
Ambitious Story
It took a lot of effort to achieve thatbusiness model. At one business
Mr. Kashiwamura, who is thepresident of Ambitious Farm, studied meeting, a buyer from a supermarket
said to him, "What is the difference
agriculture at Rakuno Gakuen
University( Hokkaido, Japan), and between your products and theIntroduction

PAGE 1products of the farmer next to you?" two farmers' wives, but the meaning
He could not reply. As a company, he has expanded to the connection
was strongly aware of the fact that a between the two, “ farmers andcertain reason is required for them, to consumers”.
win the competition with other farms,
to have the consumers choose
Ambitious Farm. To approach theirvision, Ambitious Farm coordinatedthe variety of crops to meet
consumers’ needs, reduced the use ofpesticides, and took a series of steps toimprove the soil. These improvements
have built the base of the new
Ambitious Farm.

DEC. 2021“Futari no Marché” -Marchéfor the farmers, Marché forthe consumers.-

Another cellar of Ambitious Farm isFutari no Marché. Futari no Marché is adirect sales shop run by Ambitious
farm in the center of Ebetsu City. From
May to October, every Saturday
morning, Mr. Kashiwamura's wife andMr. Ito's wife sell various kinds of“Futari no Marché”
vegetables grown in the farm. This The secret of sustainablebusiness was Mrs. Ito’s idea and she agriculture in Ambitious farm
was inspired by the change after Ito
farm became Ambitious farm. It didn’t Through agriculture, Mr.
go well but showed rapid growth in Kashiwamura, Ambitious Farm is notrecent years. Although the business is only producing the vegetables but also
connections between the producers
still small in terms of sales, themembers of Ambitious farm all feel and consumers. With a great effort
that it "has more value than sales.” made by every individual, a number ofMarché does not only deliver fresh activities, notably Futari no Marché,
vegetables but also the philosophy of are showing the results. The story ofAmbitious Farm to the consumers. Ambitious farm will surely inspire
The name "Futari no Marché" was people who are thinking about careers
from the fact that it was opened by in agriculture. What was the secret ofPAGE 2

its success? During Mr. Kashiwamura's “Bringing Happiness to People
words, we could find it. It was Mr.
through Agriculture”
Kashiwamura’s affection foragriculture and his fellow workers.
The company philosophy of Ambitious
In such an ever changing time, it
Farm is “ Bring people happiness byseems that agriculture is required for creating new possibilities ofplenty of change and development. Agriculture”. Through a series ofMost of us think it is technology taking changes, changing the way of thinking,agriculture to the next stage, however, changing the way of farming,
Mr. Kashiwamura had a different
Ambitious Farm is protecting
perspective.
agriculture in a new way, by keeping
Ambitious farm is planting more than agriculture attractive, by taking good
200 species of vegetables. At thecare of the fellow workers.
beginning, they increased the rate of “ That’s why we have a lot of people
vegetables because it is easier to sell working with us. This will eventuallyvegetables directly to consumers than become our strength.”crops. It has brought success and their Mr. Kashiwamura’s words awakened
customers even request for a wider us. There may be a number of ways tovariety. While other farmers are all approach higher-efficiency and highernarrowing down the variety for a more yield agriculture for sustainability, butefficient way of farming, Ambitious the most basic and important factor is,farm is walking oppositely.
how much the people who are“It’s true that we can invest more
involved in agriculture think aboutmoney on one thing if we specialize sustainability and how much attractive
the species. We may be able to put in people could seek from working
the right machines for the right crops, involved in agriculture.
set up the right facilities. But won’t
that weaken the localness of our farm, Just at that time we finished theof this area we are living in?”said Mr. interview and were about to go back, aKashiwamura,“It is a kind of joy and young man walked into the office. Hemotivation for farmers and workers to graduated from the department of
be involved with a variety ofagriculture, Hokkaido university lastproduction. We will continue this and year and became a new member here.
this needs manpower. It's natural to Mr. Kashiwamura introduced him to us
take good care of our fellow workers.” and joked, “You can follow your senpai
and work here, too!”It was such a warm moment that wecould glimpse into the future ofAmbitious Farm.

DEC. 2021

PAGE 3

DEC. 2021

Ambitious Farm but the whole industryof agriculture is where his affection isfor.
Where is it? Perfect Job.

At the end, we asked Mr. Kashiwamura
for a message to the young people whoare reading this article. His love for“People working at Ambitious farm” agriculture just emerged in this part.
"Farming is a job where there is no gap
Towards more ambitious
between work and life. It can be
Ambitious Farm
but I found it attractive. Start“I want to build a farm with various annoyingwork at sunrise and feel the darkfunctions, such as a restaurant where thefinish the work. I am living withpeople can experience farming and eat whenand living on a job I love,
vegetables from the farm.” As a vision nature
my life.”for the future of Ambitious Farm, Mr. enjoying
How about people who are not
Kashiwamura said so. This is not only interested
in farming?
Mr. Kashiwamura's idea, but also
“If it's not farming, what I can say is,
includes the opinions of othershould choose the job that you
employees. He always thinks about you
really want to do. It’s not all about
making the farm a place wheremoney. It’s nonsense to put up withemployees want to work. We were
you don’t like for the most time,really impressed by how much he cares work
for a short while of rest.”
about his employees. Actually, they justWhat is considered a perfect job?
have already started working on it, Everyone
his/her own answer. The
such as an open Marché in the farm answer Mr.hasKashiwamuragave us waswhich is held in October. Also, Futari amazing. Did you find it amazing,no Marché is now collaborating with Hope this article will give you sometoo?
several restaurants in Ebetsu,
to rethink agriculture andproviding meals based in Ebetsu, and inspiration
attaining good reputations. Ambitious your future.
Farm is seeking larger chances tocreate more new charms ofagriculture.
On top of that, Mr. Kashiwamura had
his own dream. That is, to expand thescope of his involvement from within
the company to Ebetsu and Hokkaido.
Not only the farming and agriculture inPAGE 4