Oishii Farm, which operates plant factories in the United States, has opened an open innovation center serving as a research and development hub in Hamura City. By combining varietal development with robotics and IoT, the company aims to create a global plant factory industry originating in Japan.
Oishii Farm, which operates plant factories in the United States, opened the Oishii Farm Open Innovation Center, a research and development hub for plant factories, in Hamura City, Tokyo, on 5 August. The Minister of Agriculture, Forestry and Fisheries, the Governor of Tokyo and other government officials attended the ceremony and emphasized the significance of creating a global industry originating in Japan. As CEO Koga Daiki (古賀大貴) explained, the company aims to expand into global markets through open innovation spanning both controlled-environment agriculture and industry. The center has approximately 15,000 square meters of total floor area, enabling demonstration cultivation of tens of thousands of plants and the simultaneous testing of various environmental conditions.
Working with corporate partners, the center aims to develop varieties specifically for plant factories and establish mass-production capabilities for robots, air-conditioning systems and IoT devices. Against this backdrop, the government has set a policy target of ¥4.6 trillion in public- and private-sector investment in the plant factory sector by fiscal 2040 as part of its growth strategy. CEO Koga Daiki (古賀大貴) suggested that the spread of Japan’s plant factory technologies and infrastructure could extend into global markets, and said the company aims to create a global industry originating in Japan.