Partnership between Experimental Farms Kyoto University and regional communities

One farm affiliated with Kyoto Imperial University (now Kyoto University) was established in 1924 in Sakyo Ward, Kyoto, on what is now the North Campus of the university, following the university’s establishment in 1923. In 1928 another affiliated farm was established, this time in Iwatemura, Mishima County (now City of Takatsuki), Osaka Prefecture. In 2016, the farms were relocated to a site in the City of Kizugawa, Kyoto Prefecture. From 1998 onward, Course of Production Management Science in the Graduate School of Agriculture were held on the farm, called Kizu Farm, and education and research are now conducted on-site by academical staffs assigned to the course. Kizu Farm is home to paddy fields, vegetable plots, orchards and a greenhouse, based on a new concept for piloting low-environmental-impact agricultural production. Labs and gardens are also available for wide-ranging research in joint projects with researchers from within and outside Kyoto University. Kizu Farm has thus become a widely used hub of research and training, not only for Kyoto University personnel but for researchers across Japan and from overseas. Many leading researchers and instructors in related fields are alumni of Kizu Farm.

Kizu Farm enjoys warm relations with the local community, offering interactive study and observation tours for junior-high and high-school students as well as “open farm” events for the general public and public lectures year-round. The farm is also actively engaged in joint research with partners in the private sector, for example in the development of Kyodai Beer (Kyoto University’s Beer).