OUR STRENGTHS
RICE DAO's strength is not capital. Trust gathers the farmland, management keeps it running, and people grow into the work.
Farmers considering succession: see the page for farm ownersOnly when all three hold each other up
Handing over farmland is never just a matter of price. Deciding who will care for paddies a family has kept for generations comes close to deciding that family's future. So we do not work through brokers. Through day-to-day relationships with farmers, local governments, financial institutions, and the people around us, we work to be the name that comes up when someone asks who should carry this on. A good handover brings the next inquiry.
Farmland and inquiries gather through trust, not price.
brings the next inquiry
We bring only methods proven in our own paddies.
We answer for the land we take on with the ability to grow. Our leadership includes a rice grower who won the Emperor's Cup, a pioneer of large-scale direct-seeded rice, and a practitioner who carried out 500 improvements on a single farm. What we bring is the methods these people have proven on their own fields. One farm in the group runs all 110 ha by direct seeding, sowing straight into the field without seedlings, and keeps cost per bale under half the national average. As the next step, we test dry direct seeding, which also skips raising seedlings and transplanting, on our own fields before extending it to suit each region.
Dry direct seeding skips raising seedlings and transplanting.
No more stacked investment region by region — the group decides.
Dryers and warehouses pile up when every region buys its own. We look across the whole group — how much capacity is actually used, what contract work comes in, how rice moves, how it is stored — and decide what belongs where. Equipment no single company could carry becomes equipment that works across regions.
Farm profit comes down to one formula: area × yield × price − cost. We act on all four. Direct seeding lowers cost, exports and social media raise the price, we gather land, and we verify yields on our own fields. What is left goes to the people who work and to equipment.
Land naturally gathers around the last farmer standing in a region. In one area, a farmer who at 59 was the youngest found 20 to 30 ha being offered to them. As area grows, sales, financing, equipment renewal, hiring and paperwork all pile onto one manager. Taking on that back office as a whole is what we mean by management strength.
No single source of funding — we combine them.
Financing is assembled from several sources: equity, regional financial institutions, government-backed loans and subsidies, and investment from previous owners and people in the community.
With only one buyer, the buyer sets the price.
We never rely on one buyer. Centred on "Beirikyuu," a working farmer and social media creator, we sell direct to over 500,000 followers, export overseas, and contract directly with restaurants and rice wholesalers. Overseas buyers order in 100-tonne lots. 100 tonnes is the harvest of about 20 hectares, more than any single farm can supply, so these enquiries only reach those with land at scale. On social media, a new-crop pre-order sold out in one day.
When there is only one buyer
The buyer sets the price
RICE DAO's channels
Paperwork and numbers, moved onto a computer.
As area grows, paperwork grows before fieldwork does: subsidy forms, work records, reports to government, figures for each region. We put all of it into systems that run on a computer and use AI to cut the hours.
Whenever a farm changes hands, the same question follows: who will actually do the work? Rice farming is short of young people, and when one skilled person leaves, a whole region can lose its capacity to take on land. So rather than asking people to come to farming, we set up entry points that work for them too, so that people come on their own.
Over 500,000 followers are our customers, and our hiring channel.
The people who buy our rice and the people who want to work in farming are looking at the same screen. Those interested in farming are already watching us. Instead of starting each search from scratch, we speak to the people who are already there.
We approach people whose situation fits the rhythm of the fields.
For athletes who need income while they keep competing, peak-season farm work fits the months without matches. For those leaving the Self-Defense Forces, it is a next career that uses their fitness and experience in the field. Fields need hands in spring and autumn and few in between. Through ties with local clubs and former service members, we are setting up these entry points.
Together with students, we build a way to see farming as a career.
Since 2026, students have gathered as RICE DAO Youth in Saga and Shiga: monthly meetups, work in the fields and facilities, trials in making and selling rice products. We have also set up a path from university internship courses through a trial period to full employment. From here we raise the people who will lead the core farm in the next region.
Hands in the field, and future managers
Social media, universities and sports clubs exist in every region of Japan. We do not have to start the search from scratch with each succession. Everyone who joins is trained with a skills checklist built on the improvements our leadership carried out on a single farm and a 125-point management review, so they learn in the same order whoever teaches them. It is how we keep succession from depending on luck.
CONTACT
Buying our rice, investing, or working with us as a local government or financial institution. Whatever the stage, we would like to hear from you.
Contact usFarmers considering succession: see the page for farm owners