Tags:
agriculture challenges, American-grown Japanese rice, California rice farming, family business closure, farming legacy, heirloom rice, Japanese American farmers, Koda Farms, Kokuho Rose, Merced County, organic farming, rice cultivation, rising farm costs, water shortage, Western Foods
After nearly a century of farming heirloom rice in Central California, the Koda family is closing Koda Farms due to rising costs and dwindling resources, marking the end of an era for their cherished Kokuho Rose rice and the legacy of a pioneering Japanese American agricultural dynasty.
Keisaburo Koda, a visionary entrepreneur from Fukushima, Japan, pursued various ventures after arriving in California in 1908 before founding a fully integrated rice farm in Merced County in 1927, earning him the title “Rice King of California.”
“That rice smells like the top of a baby’s head after a bath. Milky, sweet, starchy, fresh.”
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