(FILES) This picture taken on June 4, 2025 shows a farmer loading new trays of seedings while using a transplanter to plant rice at a farm in the town of Sanjo, Niigata prefecture in northern Japan. Rice prices in Japan finally fell in May for the first time in three and half years, officials said June 19, 2026, following sharp rises for the staple that put the government under huge pressure. (Photo by Richard A. Brooks / AFP via Getty Images)