Monday, October 7, 2024
Two weeks have passed since the fifth graders of Manryu Elementary School experienced rice cultivation by harvesting and hanging rice on a rack as part of their integrated learning class.
- 1 Rice threshing and hulling experience
- 2 Brown rice quality inspection
- 3 Tour of color sorters, bagging, and cold storage
- 4 Bagging by automatic bag feeding machine
- 5 Cold Storage Warehouse
- 6 commemorative photograph
- 7 Mayu Elementary School Website (Photo and article by Sadao Kamata, Principal)
- 8 Youtube Video
- 9 More Photos
- 10 Related Articles
Rice threshing and hulling experience
On Thursday, October 3, eleven fifth-grade students from Manryu Elementary School experienced threshing and hulling naturally dried rice (about 15% moisture content) at the Hokuryu-cho brown rice bulk preparation and shipping facility at JA Kitasorachi's Hokuryu Branch.
After the experience, the participants toured the color sorting machine, bagging by automatic bag feeder, and cold storage warehouse in the collection and shipping facility, and had a number of valuable experiences.
Transporting bundles of rice strung on rice racks to the facility
The bundles of rice were hung on a rack at the gymnasium of the Manryu Elementary School, and Mr. Akimitsu Takada transported them by light truck to the JA Kitasorachi Hokuryu Branch Office collection and shipping facility.
Test operation of seed rice threshing machine and rice hulling machine
First, the students tried out the seed rice threshing machine and rice hulling machine. After checking the machine, Mr. Takada assisted the students in threshing rice one by one with a bundle of rice.
Threshing challenge one by one!
Threshing rice bundles by slowly turning them
Line up and repeat the experience!
Threshed seed rice
Hulled seed rice
Brown rice quality inspection
After threshing and hulling, the quality of the rice is inspected in the inspection room (percentage of grain quality, moisture content, protein content in the protein chamber, percentage of split grains, percentage of green unripe grains, etc.).
Explanation by Kimitoshi Washio, Branch Manager, JA Kitasorachi Hokuryu Branch
Mr. Kimitoshi Washio, Branch Manager of JA Kitasorachi Hokuryu Branch, gave an explanation.
Students listening intently to the explanation and taking pictures with their tablets.
Tour of color sorters, bagging, and cold storage
After the rice quality inspection, the tour moved on to a color sorter, bagging, and cold storage warehouse.
Explanation by Mr. Sou Ozaki, JA Kitasorachi Hokuryu Branch Office, Agriculture Division
Mr. Sou Ozaki of the JA Kitasorachi Hokuryu Branch Office, Agricultural Section, took time out of his busy schedule while accepting rice to give us a detailed explanation.
Computers controlling the movement in the facility.
Various types of information are connected by optical fiber and computerized for management.
Color Sorter
Color sorters shine light on brown rice to sort and remove colored grains, immature grains, damaged grains, dead rice, crushed grains, stones, glass, plastic, metal fragments, and other foreign matter.
A color sorter is used to sort and remove green colored grains, grains damaged by stink bugs, grains with black spots, and crushed grains. The rice that flows in is detected by a camera, and the grains of poor quality are aerated and rejected," explained Ozaki.
Camera to identify and air to pop out-of-spec rice grains.
Burnt/foreign matter main screen computer display
Out-of-spec rice grains removed
Bagging by automatic bag feeding machine
After sorting, the rice is placed in a preparation tank and then packaged by an automatic bag feeder.
A machine called a robot palletizer lightly lifts 30 kg bags of rice and methodically arranges them.
Cold Storage Warehouse
Storing at low temperatures reduces old rice (quality deterioration).
question and answer session
- Student.What kind of places is the rice transported to and sold?
- Mr. Ozaki.The product is sent to all parts of Hokkaido, Osaka, Tokyo, Nagoya, and as far away as Okinawa's Umanchu market.
- Student.How much rice is stored in these containers in terms of quantity?
- Mr. Ozaki.: There are two ways to store rice: in a 30 kg bag of rice or in a 1 ton bag. The quantity to be stored here varies from time to time depending on the situation. One pallet carried by forklift is 1,680 kg of rice, but so much is stored that it is difficult to ascertain the overall quantity!
- Student.When you store rice, do you use that forklift to stack and unload the rice bags?
- Mr. Ozaki.: Yes, that's right. The pallets are stacked by inserting and withdrawing the forklift jaws inside the sheets that are pulled under the pallets. It requires very advanced maneuvering skills.
We were able to observe a forklift actually in operation.
commemorative photograph
Everyone took a commemorative photo in front of the powerful stack of stored rice bags!
These are students from Manryu Elementary School who had valuable hands-on learning experiences such as rice planting, harvesting, hanging rice on a rack, threshing, quality control by color sorting, and cold storage.
Hokuryu Sunflower Rice is carefully grown with lots of love and reduced pesticides!
We are proud to offer you our safe, secure, and exquisite Hokuryu Sunflower Rice, which is strictly sorted by computer for quality and lot size, and stored at low temperatures, with endless love, gratitude, and prayers.
Mayu Elementary School Website (Photo and article by Sadao Kamata, Principal)
Youtube Video
More Photos
Related Articles
Friday, September 20, 2024...
Wednesday, May 22, 2024 ◇...
Wednesday, May 22, 2024 View this post on Instagram Takada Akimitsu (@qiuguanggaotian) shared...
Tuesday, May 21, 2024 ◇...
◇ Reporting and writing by Ikuko Terauchi (Photography and editorial assistance by Noboru Terauchi) 
EN 
JA 
ID 
VI 
ZH