2.Korea branch (Korea under Japan)

1. History

The predecessor of our branch, Tozan Farm, was founded in January 1907, and was headquartered in Gyeongseong, with branches in Suwon, Gyeonggi Province, Jeonju, Jeollabuk Province, and Yeongsanpo, Jeollanam Province, and was managed by Mitsubishi Joint Stock Company. However, when our company was established on November 1, 1919, it was transferred to the management of the company and was renamed the Korean branch. Later, each branch was changed to a branch office, and then each branch was renamed a farm. Currently, the branch headquarters is located in front of Suwon Station, and Gyeonggi Farm has its office headquarters located at the same location as the headquarters.

The office headquarters of Jeonbuk Farm was located in Dongsan-ri, Wanju-gun, and the office headquarters of Jeonnam Farm was located in front of Naju Station on the Honam Line.

2. Business overview: Gyeonggi Farm, Jeonbuk Farm, Jeonnam Farm

The branch’s business is primarily rice cultivation, and the land it owns covers three provinces: Gyeonggi-do, Jeollabuk-do, and Jeollanam-do, with a total area of approximately 5,000 hectares. The annual production amount to approximately 50,000 koku (7,500 ton) of paddy. Until recently, this rent was mainly de-mulched at each farm’s factory, then exported to Osaka as brown rice and entrusted to the Mitsubishi Warehouse Company for disposal. In the market, it was known as Tozan rice or (maruto) and was loved as sushi rice or rice for upper-class people. However, once rice came under state control, it was left in the hands of local grain cooperatives and was no longer sent directly to the domestic market.

Now, in terms of management, tenant farmers’ associations were organized in each hamlet of rural villages, and efforts were made to provide agricultural guidance and enlightenment. Currently, there are 146 associations in total, and the number of tenant families is 3,600. These tenant farmers needed a considerable amount of money to improve their agricultural practices and improve the farm economy, and each association recognized the urgent need to create a fund, so each association set aside a certain amount of money each year for its members. The company also subsidizes the farmers with a certain amount of money, which they call “ agricultural funds, “ and uses them for the purpose mentioned above. Currently, the total amount has reached approximately 550,000 yen, which is effectively used to purchase fertilizer and agricultural tools, farm funds, etc. Furthermore, in order to stabilize the lives of the tenants and encourage them to devote themselves to farming, from 1922, 500,000 yen of corporate money was used to settle the old debts of the tenants for the purpose of reorganizing household finances. At that time, this was the focus of authorities, landowners, and the general public. This corporate money adopted a method of repaying the loans in annual installments at low interest rates, which was extremely effective, and many of the sharecroppers were able to stabilize their lives through this benefit.　Currently, many of the tenants have paid off their loans in full. It appears that most of the objectives have been achieved. All of these projects were aimed at coexistence and co-prosperity between tenants and the company. In addition, they were designed to improve rice production, increase yields, create self-sufficient fertilizers, and support livestock farming, as well as wheat as a back crop for paddy fields. , encouraged the planting of green manure, etc The company has broken through old bad habits in Korea, encouraged women to work outside the home and had side jobs, and has continued to make constant efforts based on the ideal of mutual prosperity, and in fact we are making some contribution to the Korean agricultural world.

There are currently a total of 75 employees, and the executives are the people below.

Director and Korean Branch Manager Kunitaro Tokuhiro

Korean Branch Deputy Manager Gyeonggi Farm Manager (Concurrently) Tadashi Morita

Jeonboku Farm Manager Nobuo Okuzono

Zennan Farm Manager Kunitaka Yokoyama