04/09/2024
Devoted to producing nutritious feed for his cows, Kato makes his farmland’s soil soft by adding organic matter to it. He never uses chemical fertilizer. He also analyzes elements of his soil with greater attention to ensure that it would not become acidic.
Nearly 90 percent of the entire feed at his farm comes from his own self-made feed. Making his own feed is very time-consuming and energy-draining. This is quite an achievement, also considering that most of the feed consumed by milk cows in Japan today is imported. “Good milk production does not necessarily stand together with economically efficient means,” explains Kato.
Since opening his dairy farm in 1975, he had suffered financial difficulty and struggled to keep the farm afloat for many years. He always wondered whether he should close the farm. However, that special memory of savouring delicious milk at his friend's home always motivated him to keep going."That is my origin as a dairy farmer. I wasn’t able to get away from it,” he says.
In 2019, Tokachi Kato Farm opened a small cheese factory, so that it could sell more value-added products rather than simply supplying milk. The factory is named “The Factory of Milk, Honey and Land”, borrowed from an inspiring Bible verse in the Old Testament, which depicts an ideal place flowing with milk and honey.
Kato has infused his factory's name with the wish that Tokachi, his homeland, would be richly blessed too with such wonderful harvests of milk and honey.
#北海道 #北海道グルメ #十勝 #酪農
