Farmers are facing increased difficulties securing quality feed for their brand-name livestock due to rice shortages, soaring prices and growers’ sharp shift to rice production for human consumption.

Concerns are growing that a dearth of rice-based diets may harm the meat quality of the animals.

Hogs typically live on corn and soybean waste.

But a subsidy program was established to assist in the production of specialized rice for livestock feed to offset the nation’s decline in rice consumption. Since then, animal farmers have voluntarily developed rice-based fodder on their own.

And food featuring rice has been increasingly served to brand-name pigs and cattle.

Famed for its brand-name hogs raised on rice, Hirata Farms in Sakata, Yamagata Prefecture, relies on special animal feed containing 45 percent of domestically cultivated rice.

Aya Ikehara, head of the research and development unit of Hirata Farms, said the flesh from rice-fed pigs boasts a richer “umami” (savory taste), along with a stronger aroma and sweetness.

Hirata Farms used 13,000 tons of feed rice harvested in 2023 and 11,000 tons in 2024. It said the feed rice supply may be down to 9,000 tons next season.

“It can’t be helped that producers temporarily give priority to culturing rice for human consumption, given the current shortage of staple rice,” Ikehara said. “(But) changes in feed can dramatically alter the meat’s flavor. We hope this will not cause any trouble to restaurants (using our pork).”

According to agriculture ministry statistics, the production area for feed rice in the 2024 harvest season was 99,000 hectares, down 35,000 hectares from the previous year.

The estimated harvest was 530,000 tons, plummeting more than 200,000 tons year on year.

As of the end of January, no prefecture intended to increase animal feed rice production, according to a survey on cultivators’ plans for the 2025 season.

As a result, the total production area is predicted to slide further to 85,000 hectares.

NATIONAL SUBSIDY FRAMEWORK

Against the backdrop of diminishing demand for rice, the government has called on farmers to allot paddies to animal feed rice or other “strategical crops.”

Rice for livestock food is generally sold at 30 yen (20 cents) to 50 yen per kilogram, lower than rice for human consumption. The difference is offset by subsidies offered based on yield and other factors, allowing for stable production of feed rice.

Last year, the poor harvest stemming from a heat wave caused a surge in the table rice value. Wholesalers in February were trading 60 kg of 2024 rice for more than 26,000 yen.

The agricultural ministry attributes this to paddy owners who have switched to culturing rice for human consumption.

COVERING BALLOONING COSTS

Hiroyasu Nishida, 52, a farmer in Kumagaya, Saitama Prefecture, who grows rice for both human consumption and livestock feed, recently fine-tuned his production strategy.

Nishida plans to scale down the 8 hectares assigned for feed rice cultivation in the 2024 season to one-third, or 2.7 hectares, this year.

Fertilizer and fuel expenses for rice for eating and feed have been rising so sharply that Nishida said the government’s yield-based subsidy alone cannot cover the cost increase.

“I have no choice but to enhance staple rice production to offset the rising expenditures, although I cannot abruptly halt all livestock feed rice shipments because of our long-standing relationships with customers,” Nishida said.

One fodder maker that supplies rice-mixed products to hog and poultry farmers said it has been inundated with reports from partner growers who plan to replace feed rice with rice for human consumption.

The company has secured a necessary volume of fodder rice reaped in autumn 2024, alongside rice from the government’s emergency reserves whose storage period has expired.

But the company is worried about a possible smaller feed rice harvest in autumn 2025.

“A reduced output will inevitably lead to a higher price,” said the company’s official responsible for procurement. “We are very concerned about whether we will be able to secure a stable amount of rice.”

The official mentioned high demand for livestock feed made from rice, with some feed products comprising up to 30 percent rice.

“Livestock farmers who raise hogs and fowl on rice-derived feed are apt to specify the use of rice on meat package labeling, creating fresh value for consumers,” said the representative.

The company said if it fails in procurement, it will consider using imported corn in lieu of rice while adjusting the ingredient mixture ratio.

(This article was written by Tomonori Asada, Hisaki Tamanaha and Nobufumi Yamada.)