Trainee Koto Kokizoe thanks the JATP organizers for the education he is getting through the program. Kokizoe is one of 31 students spending a year and a half in the U.S. learning American farming methods.
July 27, 2026
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Field study
Japanese Agricultural Training Program celebrates 60 years at BBCC
MOSES LAKE — Six decades of agricultural collaboration between the Columbia Basin and Japan were celebrated Monday evening at Big Bend Community College. “Over the years, hundreds of participants have come to our region to learn, to work, and share their talents,” Big Bend Community College President Sara Thompson Tweedy said at the commemoration Monday. “And in doing so, you have enriched our college, strengthened our agricultural community, and created lifelong relationships that continue to span the Pacific Ocean.”