What is Duck Rice Farming?
Duck rice farming uses Japanese Aigamo ducks, which are cross bred betwen ducks and geese to work in the rice fields. Aigamo ducklings are sent to us when they are 1-day old and undergo initial training to respond to our calls. After two weeks of training when the transplanted rice sedlings have grown taler and their roots have established a strong foothold in the soil the trained ducklings are released into the fields.
Out in the fields the ducklings eat the insects and weeds cutting down on the time we need to spend manually weeding. Their constant paddling loosens up the soil increasing oxygen levels in the soil and enhancing the nutrition absorption for the seedlings. Their waste also serves as fertilizer for the growing seedlings. Each evening we calout “koi,koikoikoi” to the ducklings to come back to us as part of their training to prevent them from becoming wild.
After several weks when ther ice grains start to apear and the ducklings have grown into adults, they are moved out of the rice fields. Around autumn, when the rice is ready for harvest,the ducks are also fatened and ready for Christmas.
We also work with Nihon University’s Colege of Enginering, which does research in LOHAS enginering, to monitor the health and condition of the rice and soil in this rapidly changing climate. Wen a medour sake LOHAS as anacknowledgement of the colaboration betwen us and the University
Bond Farm. is our organic rice farm located in Aizuwakamatsu City in Fukushima Prefecture, farmed by husband-and-wife team, Richard and Aki Bond. Originally farmed the traditional way for generations by Aki’s father who switched to duck-rice farming several decades ago following the method of Dr.Furano Takao, the world’s leading authority on organic farming using Aigamo ducks. We started Bond Farm. to share our love for duck rice farming, organic produce and LOHAS (Lifestyle of Health and Sustainability). In addition to organic rice we also work with Minenoyuki Brewery to brew sake using our duck/organic koshihikari table rice grown on the farm.