A Day in the life of a rice farmer

https://youtu.be/s_kLkOOV3CE

He's got a lot going on besides farming rice.

I miss the rice fields in Japan. In your video, they're planting by hand. In Japan, they have machines. Our neighbor in Japan was retired but he had land that he farmed rice on. He was also a part time cab driver. Very interesting man.

My picture above doesn't show it, but they have small canals that they use to release water into the fields when they plant.

Hokkaido rice was not very popular until they developed a new type of rice. To be honest I dont ever remember seeing many rice fields in the area of Chitose. Hokkaido is very different part of Japan. Maybe not so much now, but it was when i was there.

SAPPORO – Hokkaido rice, once known as a cheap substitute for varieties grown farther south, is catching on.

Restaurant chains have started buying Hokkaido rice, which has improved in taste in recent years even though it remains relatively inexpensive.

“Hokkaido rice remains tasty even a long time after it is cooked, and our customers also like it a lot,” said Hiroshi Yamada, owner of a 20-year-old sushi bar in Sapporo’s Susukino entertainment district.

Yamada switched to Hokkaido rice from Koshihikari, a popular Niigata brand, in March 2005 and began using a new Hokkaido variety called Oborozuki in October. The Hokkaido strain is about 30 percent cheaper than Koshihikari, which comes from the renowned rice-growing area of Uonuma.

The growing popularity of Hokkaido rice owes much to the combined efforts of scientists, farmers and marketers.

Hiroyuki Shimizu, a 42-year-old researcher, is one of the brains behind the unlikely success story. He and his staff devised new breeding methods at the National Agricultural Research Center to create Oborozuki.

The problem with rice cultivation in Hokkaido is the cold climate. Amylose, a type of starch, accumulates in rice if the temperature remains low for an extended period as the grains ripen. That makes the rice less sticky — and less tasty — when cooked.

Hokkaido has long been considered ill-suited to rice cultivation because of the island’s cool summers. To make Hokkaido rice that consumers would fancy, Shimizu’s group had to find a way to reduce the amylose content.

In 1988, the Hokkaido Prefectural Kamikawa Agricultural Experiment Station succeeded in developing a stickier variety, Kirara 397. The name of the new strain was meant to evoke the image of sparkling snow, and glistening, freshly cooked rice.

More low-amylose varieties have emerged from the lab since. Oborozuki hit the market in 2006. Its amylose content is slightly lower than Koshihikari’s.

“Scientific data demonstrate Oborozuki’s aroma and soft texture are better than those of Koshihikari,” Shimizu claimed.

But getting the science right was only half the battle. Hokkaido rice-growers focused more on quality than on yield, minimizing applications of fertilizer because excessive use of agrochemicals can increase the protein content of rice, causing it to harden during cooking.

But overcoming the poor image of Hokkaido rice was just as important, and arguably an even bigger challenge.

Hokkaido officials and delegates from the Hokuren Federation of Agricultural Cooperatives, a group of Hokkaido farmers, thus worked together on a promotional strategy.

They made commercials featuring Hokkaido Gov. Harumi Takahashi and Yo Oizumi, a popular TV celebrity who hails from Hokkaido. They also made a vigorous sales pitch to restaurants and food processors.

Their efforts have begun to pay off.

In the auction for the 2006 crop held in late November, Kirara 397 was six times oversubscribed.

While those behind the marketing push were undoubtedly pleased, at least one wondered whether they’re experiencing too much of a good thing. “If (the variety) becomes too popular and we fall short of supply, the price of Kirara 397 will go up. Then consumers will start looking elsewhere to purchase rice grown in other areas,” one Hokuren official said.

After all the hard work to make Hokkaido rice a commercial success, the rice industry here still faces a perennial challenge: the vagaries of the market.