KANAGAWA, April 30 ―Kiyomitsu Suzuki, 55, a farmer who grows daikon radishes and cabbages in the city of Miura, Kanagawa Prefecture, has been using auxiliary wheels attached to his pickup truck for over a decade, as they prevent his truck from sinking in muddy fields during harvesting. Rakurin, offered by Khamsa, an agricultural machinery maker in the city of Kobe, can be attached to the outer side of pickup trucks’ rear tires. There are many small fields and narrow roads in Miura and pickup trucks are widely used to carry harvested vegetables. After long rain, tires get stuck in mud, making it difficult for farmers to go into the fields … Continue reading →

KAGOSHIMA, April 28 ―Yasuo Shimomae, 62, a green pepper grower in the city of Shibushi, Kagoshima Prefecture, has come up with an easy and effective way to release tobacco leaf bugs ―native predators that prey on harmful pests. The method involves collecting mainly baby tobacco leaf bugs, mixing them with horticultural vermiculite and sprinkling them on green pepper plants. Since baby bugs don’t fly away to other places, they eat pests specifically on the plants, thus working effectively as natural control, a method that is inexpensive and can be used widely also in organic farming. Both adult and baby tobacco leaf bugs prey on pests such as whiteflies and thrips. … Continue reading →

AICHI, Apr. 27 – Spring has come, and farmers in the Kashidani Rice Terrace in Ozu City, Ehime Prefecture, are busy flooding and preparing for the rice planting season. Seiichi Shiromoto is a 65-year-old owner of a 1-hectare rice field. He was working hard, operating a tractor and performing preliminary tillage of the water-filled rice field. He plans to plant rice in late April, which is expected to continue for a month. The Kashidani Rice Terrace is located on the mountains at an altitude of 500 meters, with 257 rice paddies sitting next to each other and covering about 3 hectares of the side of the mountains. The farmers grow … Continue reading →

HIROSHIMA, Apr. 18 – A cross-sectoral collaboration among a rice grower, a Shinto priest, and a sake brewer has begun in Hiroshima Prefecture. They brew sake, using a rice variety called Shunyo, which has achieved the highest stars in the country’s “Mieru Label” system for recognizing agricultural producers’ contributions to reducing environmental impact. The team incorporated a series of Shinto rituals into the entire process from pre-rice-planting to completing the products and named their sake “Ichimi Shinsui.” According to the Chugoku?Shikoku Regional Agricultural Administration Office of Japan, it is rare for these three sectors to collaborate in sake brewing in Japan. Ichimi Shinsui is an old-time rite in which a … Continue reading →

NIIGATA, April 22 – Moves are seen in Niigata Prefecture, the top rice producing region in the country, to expand cultivation of extremely early-maturing rice varieties. On April 21, farmers in Niigata started planting Hazuki Minori, a rice cultivar that can be harvested as early as in August. As consumers continue to feel a supply shortage of the staple grain, growers hope to deliver newly harvested rice to consumers as quickly as possible. JA Echigo Chuetsu, a local agricultural cooperative, has been encouraging rice farmers to cultivate early-season rice to make the district a major producing area of such rice varieties. It plans to complete sales of Hazuki Minori during … Continue reading →