We participated in the co-creation challenge slot of the 2025 Osaka Expo

Giving value to non-standard vegetables: a project from Kyoto to sustain agriculture through dried vegetables [OYAOYA]

Featured on: https://team.expo2025.or.jp/ja/challenge/533

■ About the Co-Creation Challenge

Through this Co-Creation Challenge, we are building “a new form of agriculture” from Kyoto through dried vegetables, aiming to “sustain agriculture in hilly and mountainous regions” and “advance Japan’s farming industry.” We are currently driving the project forward together with young producers and welfare facilities in Kyotango, Kyotamba, and Fukuchiyama in northern Kyoto.

A certain amount of off-spec vegetables is said to be thrown away. In urban areas they can be sold at farm stands and bring in revenue, but in hilly and mountainous areas surrounded by mountains and far from cities, transport costs make selling them as off-spec produce unprofitable, and as a result they end up being discarded.
Expanding farmland also requires labor, and if non-standard produce can be turned into revenue, there is the potential to bring in people and scale up operations.

Under our concept “Let’s cultivate deliciousness,” we use dried vegetables as our entry point to share Kyoto’s agriculture with the whole country and the world, building a model for sustaining agriculture.

Dried vegetables reduce food loss and let you rediscover the hidden appeal of vegetables—we believe they are a presence that cultivates deliciousness for both farming and the dinner table. With flavors you can’t notice and textures you can’t achieve with fresh vegetables, dried vegetables bring excitement to cooking and mealtime, and they hold limitless potential.
So please keep discovering new ways to eat them, and let’s cultivate deliciousness together with OYAOYA and our farmers.