ITOIGAWA, Niigata Pref. (Kyodo) Having watched many farmers grow too old to grow rice in this mountainous part of Niigata Prefecture, Naoji Hara has taken it upon himself to find a sustainable future for local agriculture.
In 1992, he teamed up with nearby rice farmers and established a five-member cooperative to share out the cost of buying farm equipment, which can cost millions of yen. Three years later, they incorporated the co-op to make it easier to get bank loans and to rationalize management.
"We just wanted to change the situation so farmers could make ends meet by themselves," said Hara, 51, who heads the agricultural corporation, Higashiyama Farm, located in Itoigawa on the Sea of Japan coast.