Hokkaido town’s ‘flying pumpkins’ ready for harvest

The Yomiuri Shimbun

11:50 JST, September 3, 2022

Dark-green pumpkins hang from a greenhouse lattice in the Hokkaido town of Naganuma, which boasts Japan’s largest pumpkin production. Called aeroponics, the farming method allows the fruit to be exposed to sunlight evenly, helping them grow in a good shape and color. Aeroponics was developed by an agricultural material distributor in Iwamizawa, Hokkaido, and 1,600 pumpkins in four varieties are cultivated at the town’s research farm. They will be shipped to the Tokyo metropolitan area and sold as “flying pumpkins.”