Non-soil farming sprouts hope in Fukushima

Kawauchi, a farming village 30km from the site of the world’s worst atomic disaster in 25 years, feared for its future as radiation from the crippled Fukushima nuclear plant soaked into the soil.

Then Takeo Endo suggested farming without soil.

As paddies that once supplied Japan’s imperial family with rice sit fallow, Endo is leading a local government team that is pioneering a project to grow food in a sealed-off hydroponics factory.