In Asahi Town, the smallest municipality in Mie Prefecture, Japan, Takumi Farmers Mie Asahi Agricultural Cooperative was established around five years ago by bringing together local farming communities.
"As more farmers retire, their fields eventually come to us," says Mr. Yoshinobu Mizutani, one of the cooperative's board members. While focusing primarily on wheat production, the cooperative has gradually taken over one paddy field after another from retiring farmers. Today, the rice and wheat they produce are even served in local elementary and junior high school lunches.
Alongside cooperative operations, Mr. Yoshinobu Mizutani also manages around 20 hectares of rice fields individually, using a mix of guidance systems, including FJD AT2 auto steering across multiple machines.
From Puddling to Planting—Fine Adjustment Across the Entire Field Workflow
Puddling and rice transplanting are not isolated operations in rice farming—they are tightly connected steps that directly influence field uniformity and long-term crop performance.
In practice, even small deviations during puddling can affect how water is retained across the field, which in turn influences transplanting conditions and seedling establishment. Traditionally, operators had to rely on visual judgment to manage field edges, overlap spacing, and implement alignment, often making manual adjustments throughout the operation. However, the wider the implement, the harder it becomes to judge the correct distance from the field edge by eye alone.
With auto steering, guidance accuracy becomes consistent from the very beginning of field preparation. Operators can precisely control pass-to-pass alignment during puddling, while also making fine adjustments to overlap distance based on field conditions, implement width, and levee boundaries.
This consistency carries forward into rice transplanting. Once field lines are accurately establishe established, operators no longer need to rely on water visibility markers or repeated manual corrections. Instead, transplanting can be carried out under more stable field conditions, with improved alignment between passes and reduced variation caused by operator fatigue or environmental factors
Together, this creates a continuous workflow—from puddling to transplanting—in which field accuracy is maintained at every stage rather than corrected afterward.
Changing the Way Rice Transplanting Works
Auto steering has also changed how rice transplanting is carried out in the field. Previously, operators relied on visible markers to guide planting, which required water levels to be kept low enough for the markers to remain visible.
This created several operational limitations:
- Water levels needed to be adjusted before transplanting
- Marker visibility was affected by weather conditions
- Wind or reflections could reduce planting accuracy
With guidance automation, reliance on physical markers is no longer necessary. Transplanting can now be performed under more stable water conditions while maintaining consistent row alignment. According to Mr. Mizutani, rice transplanting is now “perfectly straight, with an exact 30-centimeter overlap,” a consistency that continues to deliver benefits later in the season. Even in lodged fields, harvest operations become significantly easier due to the uniform row structure established earlier in the planting process.
No Longer Spend Holding the Steering Wheel Is Spent Eating Onigiri
One of the most noticeable changes is the significant reduction in operator workload during long working hours. With auto steering handling guidance, operators no longer need to continuously correct steering manually, allowing them to focus more on overall field conditions and implement performance.
In practical terms, this also improves working comfort throughout the day, especially during peak seasons when long hours in the field are required. As a result, operators can manage their time more flexibly while maintaining consistent operational quality. As Mr. Mizutani describes the experience:
“When I'm puddling, even during peak season, I can eat lunch right here in the cab while I'm working. I can even hold an onigiri and keep working at the same time.”
Continuous Optimization Based on Field Experience
While auto-steering is widely used in daily operations, users continue to refine system settings based on real-world field needs. Mr. Mizutani has requested the ability to adjust baseline sorting methods, such as nearest location or alphabetical order:
“I’ve asked for it many times—whether by nearest location or alphabetical order… Personally, alphabetical order would be the best.”
The latest system version already improves usability by automatically listing baselines based on proximity to the current location. At the same time, operators often continue to organize fields using their own practical logic, such as address-based numbering. This reflects an ongoing process where system improvements and user habits evolve together to match real farming conditions better.
Small Improvements That Add Up Across Every Season
From puddling and rice transplanting to seeding and harvesting, every story Mr. Mizutani shared reflects the importance of small details within daily field operations. These continuous, incremental improvements—achieved one operation at a time—eventually accumulate into something much larger: rice and wheat that support everyday life in the community, including school lunches across the town.
