One of the remarkable things that occurred after the Great East Earthquake of March 11 was the rebuilding effort by Co-ops in the region and the amount of help the afflicted areas received from Co-ops nationwide, members and the national/local governments.

One of the significant moves as a symbol of the earthquake disaster reconstruction is the cultivation of the tsunami-devastated coastal areas for the production of Chinese cabbage under a new brand name “Sendai cabbage”.

The project was carried out by a joint collaboration between the Agricultural Cooperative and the Consumer Co-operative with most of the effort coming from Miyagi Co-op, JA Zennoh (Sendai) and Co-op Kobe.

Miyagi Agricultural High School (Natori) students cultivated the seedlings at their temporary school, Watari High School, which was declared a refuge place after the earthquake.

Other than the students, 21 people made up of students and teachers from Meisei Gakuen High School (Sendai), JA staff and local food producers joined in transplanting the seedlings.

On November 3, the first sale of the product was made in Miyagi Co-op stores. Last December 64 Co-ops in the Hyogo and Osaka prefectures sold Sendai cabbage and other vegetables from Miyagi. The involvement of other co-ops helps in expanding visibility of Co-ops, which is one of the main objectives on the launch of IYC.