Researching the Local Farmer: Namayasai

One of my friends in Sussex Roots introduced Namayasai to me when I asked them about the local farmers in Brighton.

What is NAMAYASAI?

It is a Japanese veggie farmers run by a couple, Robin Williams and his wife Ikuko. They grow and sell dozens of different organic Japanese vegetables by delivering Japanese vegetable box.
According to their website, http://www.namayasai.co.uk/, it is "based in Lewes, in the county of East Sussex, England. [They] were among the first growers in the UK to pioneer the agroforestry method known as 'alley cropping' and to attempt to use conservation biological control in a commercial free-of-subsidy setting. After 13 years [they] still use no pesticides, no fungicides and no herbicides - not even the approved organic chemicals. In this 8th year of setting up the alley cropping system it is still in it's infancy as we try to propagate trees that will both thrive in the range of soils nature has given [them] and that will provide an in-demand product at a competitive price for the consumer".

The couple, Robin Williams and Ikuko, started their business because they thought that Japanese food was going to become much more popular in England and there wasn't anyone growing Japanese vegetables in 2005.

They believe that the growing popularity of Japanese food means that demand for Japanese vegetables can only go up.

Therefore, what makes Namayasai unique is that their produce is mostly Japanese organic and fresh vegetables.

I will be interviewing and going for photoshooting on 4th of April from 6:30am to 4:00pm.


The newspaper about Namayasai is below.