Aging farmers face extreme temperatures as they struggle to maintain Japan's rice crop

FILE - A farmer operates a harvester on a rice terrace during the harvest in Kamimomi village, Okayama prefecture, Japan, on Sept. 7, 2024. FILE - A manager at Saitama's Agricultural Technology Research Center shows grains of a new variety of rice in Kumagaya, Japan, on Sept. 26, 2024.

In the remote village of Kamimomi in Japan's western Okayama prefecture, a small group of rice farmers began their most recent harvest in sweltering heat, two weeks sooner than usual.