To mitigate radioactive cesium from soil to plant, increasing and maintaining the exchangeable potassium (ExK) level during growth is widely accepted after Tokyo Electric Company's Fukushima Dai-ichi Nuclear Plant accident in Japan. This is because the antagonistic relationship between soil solution K and 134Cs + 137Cs (RCs) concentrations changes the transfer factor (TF: designated as the ratio of radioactivity of plant organ to soil) of RCs. As the relationship between ExK and TF depends on the soil types, crop species, and other environmental factors, the required amount of ExK should be set to a safe side. Eleven years after the accident, as the activity of 134Cs was almost negligible, 137Cs became the main RCs in most of the agricultural fields in Fukushima Prefecture. We propose a new indicator, the concentration ratio of plant 137Cs to soil exchangeable 137Cs (Ex137Cs), instead of TF, which showed a better correlation with ExK even among soils with different properties (or mineralogy). Display omitted •Exchangeable K level is known to be a detrimental factor to mitigate 137Cs uptake by plant.•Relationship between exchangeable K and the transfer factor was not equal at different soils.•The amount of exchangeable 137Cs is also an important factor to explain the radioactivity of the plant.•The concentration ratio of plant 137Cs to soil exchangeable 137Cs showed a significant correlation with exchangeable K.