From your description and the course's title, I tend to believe the professor is trying to create a poetic image for his or her course. Fertility and rice production were big issues for the early Japanese, so it doesn't seem unreasonable to me to assume one might find an emphasis on fertile lands and such in old tales that would merit the professor using such imagery. At any rate, without further details on course content a literal translation may be best (a quick question to the client would also probably be in order, or at least flagging it for them to query the professor).

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Note added at 17 hrs (2009-11-03 00:31:24 GMT)
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Looking at the other respondent's reply, I agree "tales" really should be "legends." Personally, I think the alliteration being suggested there is a little too cute, but that's really a matter of taste. At any rate, if the original poster has until Friday to get answers to this and the other two questions, on Thursday I'll be doing my weekly office day at Kokugakuin where I'm surrounded by specialists in Japanese mythology, folklore, and mythology and I can get their opinions on all of them.

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Note added at 18 hrs (2009-11-03 00:33:46 GMT)
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That should be "mythology, folklore, and Shinto." Drat.

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Note added at 3 days1 hr (2009-11-05 08:06:45 GMT)
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Discussed this with my professor of Japanese religions supervisor. He agrees with the suggestions of Joyce and myself to take the term at face value, since the ancient myths and legends are filled with stories of gods seeding the lands with rice and are generally concerned with fertility and growth. Take your pick about your preferred translation.