Rice Plan Signals End of Era as New World Farmers Beat Ol

The patchwork of tiny rice paddies that have decorated the terraced hillsides and alluvial plains of Japan for centuries is under threat as the government presses aging farmers to consolidate holdings or switch crops.

The gentan system, which has paid landowners to reduce crops for more than four decades, should be dismantled by 2018, the agriculture ministry said in a proposal to Prime Minister Shinzo Abe’s ruling party this month. The ministry also said it plans to create land banks in every prefecture to connect small holdings into larger tracts.