Protected horticulture after the great east Japan earthquake in Iwate prefecture

Agricultural lands in the Kesen area, which is located in the coastal area of Iwate Prefecture, were severely damaged by the Great East Japan Earthquake on March 11, 2011. Empirical research was undertaken to promote agricultural restoration and reconstruction. This project was conducted to realize low-cost protected horticulture utilizing local resources effectively. In this area, where forestry was popular, there was abundant unnecessarily thinned timber. Three types of low-cost greenhouses were developed, including a wooden frame house built using lumber derived from thinning. A stove to use thinned timber as a fuel was also developed. To establish protected horticulture at a low cost, greenhouses that could be constructed with accessible materials were developed along with a device for sterilizing nutrient solutions using charged plasma. An environmental control program was developed based on a “ubiquitous environment control system (UECS)” for small-scale facilities. Disease control using hot water for long-term cultivation was carried out. Strawberry and tomato production was conducted to demonstrate the use of these developed elements and resulted in yields significantly higher than those obtained for these crops before the disaster.