Tadaaki Sakamaki is worried about the future of the paddies and fields where he grows rice, leeks, lettuce and cabbage in rural Ibaraki prefecture.

Rice growers face falling consumption and a decline in the number of younger people willing to join the profession

The farm is not very profitable and Mr Sakamaki’s son has shown little interest in farming. Mr Sakamaki, 61, suspects that once he retires, he will just have to lease out the land.