Spotlight Japan
Consumers Welcome Fresh Faces
A friendly, weather-beaten face peers up at shoppers from a photo on the wrapping of a pack of shiny red peppers. A sign above the cucumbers features a group of men and women in a field, smiling proudly. And scattered throughout the lettuce and tomatoes are reassuring labels that declare that this produce was grown on a small farm north of Tokyo.
These are the faces that today's Japanese consumers want to get to know these days: the individual farmers who personally cultivate the produce that is sold in this country's faceless cities. Food safety issues, including accurate pesticide-labeling information and increased demand for organic foods, have led to demand for greater accountability: consumers want reassurance that their food is safe, non-toxic and that its origins are correctly labeled.
In the past few years, various urban supermarkets and department store food courts have begun to carry produce whose source can be identified, and farmers' photos are becoming familiar in the produce sections of many supermarket chains who now feature "personally endorsed" foods. One produce section manager reports, "Some customers say they buy ‘farmer's face' brands because they can eat safely, and the vegetables are tasty. The farmers we contract with are very conscious of our customers' needs, and take personal responsibility for what they produce." This source-labeled produce is priced competitively alongside the store's other vegetables and fruit.
Like the many supermarkets who carry "farmer's face" vegetables, Ito Yokado promises true accountability along with farm-fresh taste. Customers here can trace the origins of the produce they buy via the store's home page. By entering the ID number of a product (clearly labeled on the package), consumers can obtain information about the farmer who grew the product and how it was cultivated.
Of course, country roadside produce stands have long been the best and most direct assurance of accountability. Farmers sell their inexpensive produce directly to customers, who value it for its freshness, flavor and cost — and for the fact that they can see for themselves where this food originated.
Beyond small produce stands, "farmer's face" foods were originally sold in small independent stores. One such store outside Tokyo has sold organic and reduced-pesticide vegetables for fifteen years. The new personal-label trend has been spurred on by stores like these, which work directly with individual farmers and agricultural co-ops through e-commerce, where small retailers sell through a produce clearinghouse website. This option is becoming increasingly popular as an alternative to selling through major market retailers, and many farmers now sell their goods directly to consumers via the Internet.
On one such website, consumers buy fresh vegetables and organic foods such as rice and eggs directly from over twenty farms throughout Japan. The site profiles each farm and its produce, and provides detailed descriptions of products and growing methods through videos, photos and interviews. Shoppers can also peruse information on use or non-use of pesticides, the latest cutting-edge agricultural technology, seasonal vegetables, and recipes and gift ideas.
Farmers are enjoying increased profits through the various means of direct marketing that have evolved around their "farmer's face" products. For some time, less expensive imported vegetables had been affecting the domestic market, but as these latest value-added foods go mainstream, the face of the farmer is smiling on a whole new market of food freshness, taste and reliability.
