Nuffield Diaries – the coolest rancher in Japan!

April 27, 2026

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Yuge Farm is only 20 minutes from downtown Kobe, surrounded by residential neighbourhoods.

Tadao Yuge runs 50 cows with robotic milking systems. His father started the dairy in 1943. To survive the milk price collapse in the 80s, Tadao taught himself cheese-making from English books because there were no Japanese resources. He made the tools himself. It took a year to produce his first Camembert in 1984. The breakthrough was Fromage Frais, a fresh cheese that pairs with soy sauce and bonito.

With urban sprawl, the farm had more (and closer) neighbours and the manure odour was a problem. Tadao started biogas experiments in 2012 with Obihiro University and Kobe University. He built two small-scale biogas units in 2015 and 2018 that process cow manure, dairy by-products, and restaurant food waste. The biogas is used for heating water – primarily for sanitizing the milking equipment and cheese-making, rather than generating electricity. The digestate became Japan’s first dairy farm liquid fertilizer certified for organic agriculture. Local sake brewers use it to grow rice for “環 (Meguru)” sake. The farm grows herbs and vegetables with digestate that go into the restaurant. Whey from cheese-making becomes stew and skincare products. Solid manure gets composted. Nothing is wasted.

Tadao’s goal is making small-scale biogas accessible to other dairy farms and turning dairy operations into regional fertilizer hubs

I have been reflecting on two main stories since that visit:

– The dedication and perseverance of the family. Being one of the pioneer farms to introduce cheese to Japanese cuisine and doing so with limited or no tools at all shows the resilience of Tadao and his family.

– Despite surrounding farmland being sold for residential development, the Yuge family has kept the dairy operating.

– A thought regarding research and collaboration with Universities. I was amazed by the scale of the biogas “facility,” a tiny little room on the downhill side of the barn. I think we could benefit from small-scale research funding and collaboration. In Canada we have thousands of family dairies with a similar number of cows in lactation that could use fram scale biodigester to supplement the farm’s fuel and energy needs. Food for thoughts.