Rice
We use either no pesticides or very little at the beginning so that they don’t remain, use only organic fertilizer, mainly self-made cattle manure compost, additionally chicken manure and oil cake fertilizer.
Aso area is called water bottle of Kyusyu Island due to volcanic soil which absorb a lot of water. So we have plenty of water even by continued drought, we have never been suffered from lack of water so far.
Thanks to the high sea level (480m above the sea), the rice make starch by photosynthesis in daytime, and can keep them during the night because temperature sinks in high platoon, instead of using them for breathing. It means that the temperature difference between day and night is the key to produce flavorful rice.
Post-harvest is chemical free, and we pack in 5kg bags either as white or brown rice and send them to private houses all over Japan (not for export).
Cattle （Akaushi）
Our uncle has once resigned the cattle, Akaushi (Red Beef), traditional spices in Aso area because of lack of labor shortage. But as we started farming in 2003, he re-started little by little. Now he raise 20 mother cows and their calf, meadow and stall are lively.
Mother cows spend most of the time in the meadow and only before and after childbirth they spend in stall. We are so called breeding farmer, and sell calf 10 months after they are born.
Cows are the key to keep unique landscape of Aso. They also eat rice straw and grasses, their manure will be absorbed by rice husks, and brought back to paddy fields as organic fertilizer in next spring. That’s how our circulation realize thanks to cows.