Product Summary (Registration No.175)

Registration No.175 北海道米

Registered name (Transcription) : 北海道米（Hokkaido Rice、Hokkaido Mai）
Reference information : Hokkaido Rice

Category of product

Class 1 : Agricultural product（rice）

Production Area

Hokkaido Prefecture

Registered Group

Hokuren Federation of Agricultural Cooperatives

Characteristics

Hokkaido’s distinctive rice varieties, which are adapted to cold climates and are rare worldwide, vary widely in sweetness, softness, and stickiness, enabling them to meet a broad range of uses and needs. As evaluations of the eating quality of Hokkaido Rice have improved dramatically, awareness of the product has also increased. Consumers highly value not only its eating quality but also its production volume, stable supply, safety, and reliability. As a result, Hokkaido Rice has established its position as one of Japan’s leading rice products.

Link with the Production Area

In this cold region, where rice cultivation was considered so difficult that the Meiji government abandoned its attempts, earlier generations who longed for rice persisted in searching for suitable locations and cultivation methods. Through continued selection using the Akage variety, they finally succeeded in cultivating rice in 1873. For more than 100 years, further improvement efforts based on the Akage variety have continued in Hokkaido. These efforts have produced numerous varieties that would once have been inconceivable in a cold region and that meet diverse needs in terms of eating quality, productivity, uses, and other attributes.