What’s the difference between America & and Japanese Farming? Vol.4 ~Rice Farming~

Welcome back to Agri Step!

Thank you for always reading.

I have been so busy with the farm training coming to an end soon that I haven’t had time to update agri step!

After this farm training, I will be taking special classes at UC Davis for two months.

I will be updating more information about the schedule, curriculum, and other useful information for those who are thinking about taking the next training program, so please look forward to it.

This time, I would like to write about “Koda Farms” located in Dos Palos, U.S.A.

The other day, I thankfully had the opportunity to visit the Koda Farms.

In the 1920s, the first founder, Keisaburo Koda, immigrated to the U.S., and the farm has a long history that is still being carried on by the third generation.

This article will focus on Japanese rice farming, which has grown in the U.S.

History of Koda Farms

Back in the 1920s. The founder, Keisaburo Koda, purchased land in the San Joaquin Valley of Los Banos, California, with his family and moved there.

They were looking for land from the northern part of Sacramento to raise rice, but they could not find any land, so they moved southward and ended up there.

Later, he contributed to the development of rice farming techniques in the U.S., including the use of airplanes to sow seeds and the development of rice varieties.

However, the process was not all glamorous.

During the WWII, the U.S. government cracked down on Japanese farmers due to discrimination, and approximately 99% of the facilities owned by the farmers at that time were sold.

The company had originally built its brand on integrated quality control from cultivation to storage and packing, so not only the land, but also the dryers, airplanes, storage facilities, and all other assets were lost.

After returning home from the Japanese camps after the war, he started again, developing the “Kokuho Rose,” a variety that is still grown today, growing the first commercial “sweet rice” in California, and commercializing rice flour made from it.

With these many accomplishments, Keisaburo is known as the “Rice King” among Japanese Americans.

He left behind not only rice farming techniques, but also many other achievements, but my article focuses on agriculture.

You can read the detailed history of Koda Farms on their website.

Today, the mill has been passed down to the second and third generations, and has been growing rice as a historic farm for almost 100 years.

Visit to Koda Farms

I visited Koda Farms in mid-September, when they were harvesting sweet rice.

It seemed that only the tips of the rice plants were being harvested, so there were more rice stalks left in the field than in Japan after harvest.

When I asked them if they make use of the rice straw, they told me that the challenge is that there is not much use for it.

After all, this is America, and the machines are quite large.

There were combine to harvest and bank-out wagons that carry the crops from the field to the paths.

I can show you how big this is?

You can see that it is about as tall as a tire, as shown by the adult man standing in the middle of this picture.

The rice grown at Koda Farms, as mentioned in the “History of Koda Farms” section above, is both Kokuho Rose and sweet Rice.

To further divide the rice, it is produced separately as organic (organic fertilizers and pesticides are used) and conventionally grown (chemical fertilizers and pesticides can be used).

Of course, because of the different methods of cultivation, the tools/machinery/storage/packing and other operations were completely separated.

The characteristics of the varieties grown seemed to ripen faster due to their shorter stature, and it was easy to tell when they were mixed with weeds in the organic fields.

This is where the rice is harvested along with the weeds, and only the rice was neatly removed during the subsequent sorting process.

At Koda Farms, everything from cultivation to packing is done at their own mill, and the inside of the mill is kept clean.

The cleanliness of the mill was evident of their commitment to quality control.

The products are sold in bags of various sizes, and the package design is also unique.

As for future field work, they are going to take down the rice after harvesting to make it easier to plow with a tractor and prepare for next year’s planting.

In some of the fields where planting will take place, preparations have already begun!

As you may have noticed in the photo above, the field is very flat.

This is done using the GPS function of the tractor, and the dividing line for the water is also very neat.

In the old days, of course, there was no GPS, so the dividing line was always very uneven.

Then around April, the sowing begins.

Where does the water come from?

Rice farming requires a lot of water.

We were told that the water used by Koda Farms comes from Mount Shasta.

However, Mt. Shasta is located in northern California.