Start a new farm in Japan.1 ~MEISHO FARM~

Welcome back to Agri Step!

Now it’s time for me to start preparing for my new farm.

Start a new FARM in Japan

Greetings to the farmers who will assist me

I returned from Germany, still jet-lagged, but I left it behind and started running.

Since I was starting in Saga Prefecture, my father’s hometown, he had talked to neighbors in advance, so I started by visiting the farmers to say hello.

I had lived there for two years before going to the U.S., so the local people seemed to know me.

There are about 1.3 hectares of grandma’s rice fields, and we are in the process of talking about starting a rice/wheat/soybean farm there.

In my greeting, we were told that a farmer who is retiring at this time of the year is willing to give us his machinery.

It is actually very gratifying to be able to be given away machinery that is still in use.

I can use the machineries that have been used up to now, so the cost of maintenance can be reduced considerably.

In addition, I am very grateful for the very reasonable price he is offering me.

I’m relieved to know that I will be able to use the necessary machinery for rice/wheat/soybean production.

It seems that the preparation for rice production starts around the holidays in April every year in this area, and I have to clear various applications before then.

Consultation with the city office and the Agricultural support Center

Since I had no idea what the proper process was to start farming, I decided to ask the government officials about it in detail.

A government officer decided to talk with several people at the Agricultural support Center because he felt that we would make more progress if we talked with them as well.

The center staff told me many things related to farming, such as cultivation methods, the recent cultivation status of neighboring farmers, and feasible farming management.

The government officials told me about the current status of land ownership in the area where I would be farming, the business procedures, and introduced me to events for new farmers who are considering starting a business.

I would like to take advantage of a grant that would allow me to receive 1.5 million yen per year for three years until my business is stable, but one thing became clear during this discussion.

They said that I may not receive this grant unless I am recognized as having some risk.

In my case, I have my grandmother’s land, and a neighbor gave me machinery at a reasonable price, and I can start with farmers in the area who will teach me how to grow my crops.

However, when I told them that I myself wanted to make vegetable production my main focus in the future, and not rice, wheat, and soybeans, they said that if I could start producing vegetables in this first year, it would be accepted as a risk, as they would consider expanding the scale of production every year.

I wanted to start producing vegetables as soon as possible so it will be a good opportunity to get started.

I’d like to hear from a lot of different people in order to get started as a new farmer, so next time I’m going to talk to the farmers who have always taken care of me, as well as the people at the prefectural office!

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