Cultivation Calendar

April: Sowing seeds and field preparation
May: Rice planting
June – August: Growth and drying out
September: Harvesting, Conditioning, Storage, Shipping

April: Sowing Thinning and Field Preparation

The well-seeded, heavy seeds are selected and planted in a nursery. Prepare the rice field for planting the grown seedlings. The rice paddies are tilled with a tractor to aerate the soil.
 The rice fields are filled with water, and the tractor is used to mix the water and soil to flatten the fields.

May: Rice Planting

When the seedlings have grown to about 5 leaves and the temperature exceeds 13℃, the water in the rice paddies becomes warmer and the seedlings are planted in the paddies. Several seedlings are planted as a single plant, with about 20 to 30 cm of space between each plant.
 In the past, rice planting was done entirely by hand, which was a difficult task, but nowadays it is possible to plant rice seedlings using special machines. Seedlings are also grown in special seedling boxes in advance to make them easier to set in the machine.

June to August: Growth and drying out

As the plant grows, new stems grow out from the base of the stem. This is called « division, » and rice plants are repeatedly divided until there are about 20 stems.
 While the rice plants are growing, weeds are also growing in the rice paddies, so weeds must be pulled out frequently. Otherwise, the weeds will take up nutrients and the rice will not grow well.
 Once around July, after the rice has finished dividing, all the water is drained from the rice paddies and the soil is dried, allowing fresh air to enter the soil so that the rice can grow well. When the inaho (young rice plants) emerge, the flowers bloom. Sparrows are careful not to eat the young inaho.
 The scarecrows are erected to scare away the sparrows.

September: Harvesting, Conditioning, Storage, Shipping

When the rice becomes hard, there is no longer any need to water it, so the fields are drained. When the rice turns yellow, it is a sign that the rice is ready to be harvested. The rice is harvested with a sickle. Let the harvested rice dry for a while. When the rice is dry, only the firmer parts are removed from the rice plant. This process is called « threshing.
 Farmers use a combine harvester to harvest and thresh the rice at the same time. The firs are removed from the harvested firs and only the contents are taken out. This is called genmai (brown rice). After the brown rice is cleaned and milled, it finally becomes the white rice that everyone eats every day.

Source: Ministry of Agriculture, Forestry and Fisheries Web site

Created from « About Rice » (Ministry of Agriculture, Forestry and Fisheries)

出典:農林水産省Webサイト(URL)

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