Category Archives: Food & Agriculture

KANAGAWA, Nov. 8 — ZEN-NOH Kanagawa, the marketing arm of agricultural cooperatives in Kanagawa Prefecture, and Kumesen Syuzo Co., a distillery in Naha, Okinawa Prefecture, have jointly developed Shonan Harumi Rice Whisky made entirely from domestically-grown rice. The new whisky, to be put on sale on Nov. 27, uses the Kanagawa-born rice brand Harumi as an ingredient. ZEN-NOH Kanagawa aims to promote the product as a new step to create high value-added products using low-grade rice varieties. The whisky is made only from the Harumi rice classified as third-class rice, which contains between 45 percent and 59 percent high-quality grains, and germinated brown rice. According to ZEN-NOH Kanagawa, it is … Continue reading →

NAGANO, Nov. 4 — Johnan Manufacturing Inc., a car parts maker of Ueda, Nagano Prefecture, will test-market next spring Folloone, a harvest cart that can detect and follow its user automatically. The cart, with the maximum load capacity of 150 kilograms, will help farmers like grape growers save time and effort needed to move carts during harvesting, more than halving their workload, according to the company. An ultrasonic sensor attached to the front of the cart enables it to detect targets such as people and other carts and move along with them. The cart is equipped with a controller so that it can also be operated manually, letting it go … Continue reading →

SAITAMA, Nov. 2 – Venus Farm in Kumagaya City, Saitama Prefecture, is now busy processing sesame seeds. The farm cultivated sesame seeds in late September this year. However, due to periodic rain, it waited 1.5 months before starting to thresh them. When a 56-year-old golden sesame seed grower at the one-hectare farm, Minako Wakayama, placed a bundle of sesame seeds on a thresher, the seeds popped out with a loud, crackling sound. Wakayama began growing sesame 16 years ago, and she currently produces one ton per year. Over 99.9% of sesame seeds sold in Japan are imported, and domestically-grown sesame is very rare. Sesame production requires numerous work processes even … Continue reading →

HOKKAIDO, Oct. 26 – The 16th All Japan Holstein Grand Prix was held on October 25 in Abira Town, Hokkaido, to recognize excellent dairy cow producers across the country who succeeded in improving dairy cows. It marked a comeback after a decade of absence, as the last one five years ago was cancelled due to the COVID-19 pandemic. The 2025 championship welcomed, from 38 prefectures, a record-high 380 dairy cows. The Champions, the highest award winners, were selected on October 26. The event is organized by the Holstein Cattle Association of Japan (HCAJ). HCAJ Chairman Tsutomu Maeda expressed his hope at the opening ceremony to strengthen ties among dairy farming … Continue reading →

SHIMANE, Oct. 22 — Hiroyasu Hida, a 72-year-old farmer of the city of Yasugi in Shimane Prefecture, cuts grass by attaching a mower on the arm of an excavator. The use of an excavator reduces the physical burden since a user can stay seated on a roofed seat even when working under the scorching sun. The working time is also significantly cut to one tenth of the time needed to weed with a brush cutter. The ridges between the fields have been widened to 2 meters to allow excavators to work on them, with the total area expanding to 5 hectares. Hida, who manages 8 hectares of farmland in a … Continue reading →