Washington Farm Visit Builds Bond Through Baseball with Japanese Buyer
A visit to Colin Schultheis’ wheat farm in Washington brought Japanese buyer Takahiro Ishizuka together with the 10-year-old baseball fan for a game of catch. The exchange offered a personal connection during a trade team visit focused on how wheat is grown, harvested and shipped.
Colin Schultheis and Japanese wheat buyer Takahiro Ishizuka connected over baseball during a visit to the family’s farm in Colton, Washington, in July. The encounter unfolded as a U.S. Wheat Associates trade team from Japan visited to see how wheat is grown, harvested and shipped.
Colin had just returned from baseball practice. The 10-year-old fifth grader plays center field or first base on two teams, and Ishizuka noticed his baseball cap and gear.
That was enough to start a game. Ishizuka, who works with NIPPN Corporation, said he wanted to speak with Colin but was not confident in his English. He suggested they play catch instead.
They found their way past the language barrier.
Colin grabbed mitts for both of them, and they threw the ball in the family’s yard. Ishizuka joked that he was Shohei Ohtani, the Japanese designated hitter and pitcher for the Los Angeles Dodgers. Both were fans of Ohtani.
“It was really fun,” Colin said.
Kyle Schultheis, Colin’s father and a wheat farmer, said the moment caught the family by surprise. Colin’s grandfather, Art Schultheis, a Washington Grain Commission board member, described the connection simply: “They didn’t speak the same language, but they spoke baseball.”
The visit also left a keepsake. Colin had made a baseball card featuring himself with an app several years earlier. When Ishizuka asked for something he could sign, Colin went to get the card, signed it and gave it to him. Ishizuka handed Colin his business card in return.
“Pretty happy that it’s in Japan,” Colin said of the card.
Ishizuka said he still keeps Colin’s autograph in his business card holder at work and shows it to people, calling it the signature of a future Major Leaguer. After returning to Japan, he also told his children about playing catch with Colin. His son said he hoped to play catch with the boy someday.
What brought the Japanese wheat buyer to the farm?
Ishizuka joined the trade team to see the wheat supply process firsthand and better understand how the crop moves from farms to shipment. He said he was amazed by the scale of production and impressed by farmers’ efforts to limit environmental impact while working under challenging natural conditions.
That farm visit gave the trade relationship a human face. For a buyer involved in Japan’s flour industry, seeing how wheat is produced offered direct contact with the people behind the crop. Kyle Schultheis said visits from wheat users help validate farmers’ work and strengthen relationships.
NIPPN began as a flour-milling company 130 years ago and holds the second-largest share of Japan’s flour milling market. The company has also invested in the newly established Utah Flour Milling LLC, marking its entry into the U.S. flour-milling business.
Ishizuka said the experience gave him greater appreciation for the safe, high-quality wheat used to make flour in Japan. And the signed card remains with him at work, a reminder of the afternoon when a baseball game opened a conversation between a farm family and a Japanese buyer.
