Cookies from the "Leaves" of Nijisseiki Pears—Tottori University Students Take 2 Years to Commercialize Them as a Measure Against Abandoned Farmland

The Tottori University student group "Yuirin" has, using pearleaves, turned cookies into a productover roughly two years. What they focused on werepear orchards on abandoned farmlandleft without successors and no longer bearing fruit. Because pesticide spraying has stopped on such land, the leaves can be used safely—that was the idea. It is an initiative connecting regional challenges and food, unique to Tottori, known as a growing region for Twentieth Century pears.

Why "leaves" rather than "fruit"?

Yuirin is a group launched in 2022 by students of Tottori University's Faculty of Agriculture, and it currently operates mainly with students in agriculture and regional development fields. In working across a wide range of activities from cultivating pears and persimmons to processing and sales, they turned their attention to pear "leaves," which had had no use until now.

To use leaves safely in a product, the pesticide issue must be cleared. The hint for that was abandoned farmland. A pear orchard where cultivation has stopped and no pesticides have been sprayed lets you use the leaves with peace of mind. The idea of flipping the negative asset of abandoned farmland into a source of raw material procurement is at the core of this product.

Overview of the initiative

Completed by students teaming up with a confectionery shop in the city

The cookies were developed with the cooperation of a confectionery shop in the city and others. The point that they did not complete it with students alone but involved local specialists to finish it to product level is reflected in the two years it took. Yuirin's activities—from farm-work volunteering at fruit farms to selling processed goods using blemished fruit—are consistent in the direction of returning benefit to the growing region.

Agriture's perspective—"pears" and "abandoned farmland" are themes on our front lines

We operate the dried-pear D2C brand "Letter from a Pear (dry-pear)," using Twentieth Century pears grown in Kyotango. As a party handling the same Twentieth Century pear, how to make use of not only the pear "fruit" but also byproducts and idle assets of the growing region is a theme we constantly face.

Abandoned farmland is a challenge spreading in growing regions nationwide, and from the standpoint of agricultural DX it cannot be left unaddressed. Yuirin's idea of reconsidering the trees and leaves that remain there as raw material offers reference regardless of scale. Even trees that no longer bear fruit still hold usable resources.

Summary

The pear-leaf cookies are a case in which students brought together the regional challenge of abandoned farmland and the food-loss perspective of making use of unused parts, crystallizing them into a single product. Born from Tottori, the land of pears, this initiative is rich in suggestions for how to face the challenges growing regions carry.

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Source

• Yahoo! News / FNN Prime Online "'Pear leaves' become a new sweet!?"
• Nihonkai Shimbun "New industry from abandoned farmland: Tottori University students take on developing pear-leaf sweets"