-desc” style=””>Vegetables grown in the Kidaya store and sold in the supermarket
In Japan, where the self-sufficiency rate of food is less than 40%, the number of people employed in agriculture in 2019 has decreased by 35% compared with 5 years ago, and the average age has reached 67. Affected by the new crown epidemic, foreign technical intern trainees cannot go to Japan, and the harvest work of many farmers is affected. The plant factory is not affected by the increasingly unstable climate and maintains a stable harvest and price through limited manpower and space, so it has attracted much attention.
In addition to supermarkets, the demand for factory vegetables has a lot of room for growth in the commercial sector. For example: salads in convenience stores and restaurants, and clean dishes for home-cooked dishes whose demand increases with the increase in dual-career families. It has few bacteria, is easy to store, can save the trouble of washing vegetables, and has the same size and good appearance.
According to the statistics of Fuji Economics, in the face of Japan’s annual demand for lettuce of 550,000 tons, the supply of plant factories is about 17,000 tons in 2019, with a market share of about 3%. It is estimated that by 2030, the supply will reach 62,000 tons, and the market share will exceed 10%.
The world’s population continues to increase, and “indoor agriculture” is attracting attention
Plant factories are also called “indoor agriculture” in the world, and related businesses are showing an expanding trend. The American PLENTY company combines LED lighting and data analysis technology to cultivate vegetables and fruits in the greenhouse in the building. The company raised funds from the SoftBank Group’s Vision Fund, and the funder also included Jeff Bezos, the founder of Amazon.
In China, Mitsubishi Chemical has reached an agreement with local companies to provide China with the largest vegetable cultivation system that uses artificial light and sunlight. Philips LED lighting in the Netherlands is widely used in Japan and other countries.
The world population facing climate change will reach 9.7 billion people by 2050, and the risk of food crisis will increase. Together with intelligent agriculture and plant meat using robots, plant factories will also become a promising solution. Japan’s Yano Economic Research Institute believes that the world market for new-generation plant factories will reach 161.8 billion yen by 2025, about 10 times that of 2020 (16.5 billion yen).