Rice-making in a large rice field
Takakazu Yagura explained, ”I never imagined that I would be involved in agriculture back in college.” In reality, he succeeded his family business as soon as he graduated in 2004. Currently, he harvests rice at his approximate 340,000 square meter rice field, which is the size of about 30 Koshien baseball fields. The entire field is taken care of by the 3 members of the family.
Reasons for aiming for pesticide-free rice
Takakazu Yagura has one objective, and that is to create pesticide-free rice.
During his freshman year, he was helping out in the fields spraying pesticide when a strong wind blew, and the pesticide got in his eyes.
He underestimated the effect, and forgot about it until the next day when his eyes became unbelievably swollen. He immediately ran to the doctor but it resulted affected his eyesight. That experience triggered him to think about the possibility of creating pesticide-free rice.
Disclosing information for the sake of safety
It was easier said than done. The output did not increase, and then there was the problem of weeds.
However, after consecutive trial and error, he found the ”Milky Queen En” and succeeded in creating rice without using pesticides or chemical fertilizers for 4 whole years. This is now their leading product, and the product for the following season was already sold out at the time of our visit. There is a long wait until September. The Yagura family field is vast. It is virtually impossible to make the entire land pesticide-free.
Recent pesticides are made with consideration for how they may influence humans and the eco-system, so being pesticide free does not necessarily make it good.
However, because he feels strongly about the importance of disclosing information to ensure the safety and security of the consumers, he shares information about the types and amount of pesticides used on his fields. From the consumer’s point of view, this is surely something to be happy about.
