Stink bug outbreak across Japan sparks rice price concerns

odor, prefer gramineous plants like rice. They attach themselves to a rice plant when it is forming its ear, pierce the grains with their stylets and suck out the juices. As a result, the grains develop the black or brown spots and cannot be shipped for human consumption. Rice prices have been high in Japan since summer in 2024, and the central government is trying to deal with shortages of the grain by increasing production. But there are fears that the damage by the bugs could negatively impact the 2025 harvest, which the government has pinned its hopes on. In August, Seiju Suzuki, the 54-year-old president of a farming company, sighed as he held up a brown-spotted rice ear on an about 80-hectare paddy in Sugito, Saitama Prefecture. The company’s yields fell 10% last year in rice fields that could not be sprayed with pesticides, he said. The company has introduced a new drone for aerial pesticide spraying, which has a heavy cost burden. In addition to an initial investment of ¥3 ...