KAMAKURA, Kanagawa Pref. — The truck farmers market in the center of this ancient capital has been an experiment on many fronts: It is a rare no-middleman link to consumers, engaging in a communal shared rotation of stalls and offering an ever-expanding bounty to please the city's worldly palates.

These farmers now worry that they are becoming part of an experiment themselves.

The city plans to plop a food waste recycling plant in their midst. The plan is to extract biofuel from fermented food waste. No incineration, no dioxin, no chemical risks, the city assures.