Stevia Helps Rice Grow in Tsunami Ravaged Paddies

B&L Corporation has succeeded in producing 5,400 kg of rice per hectare in paddy fields that were inundated by seawater from the tsunami due to the East Japan Earthquake. This cultivation trial was done in Ishinomaki in Miyagi, using an agricultural preparation called Farm-A.

Farm-A is a concentrated, matured liquid made only from stevia, a perennial plant indigenous to Paraguay. It contains 0.2% nitrogen, 0.2% phosphate, and 1.1% potassium. Stevia is usually used as a sweetener, but B&L has used a unique fermentation process to increase stevia's effectiveness as an agricultural preparation. Farm-A is the only product made by fermenting stevia.