Plant Factory web site : From the Front Line ::: Ministry of Economy, Trade and Industry (METI), JAPAN

Kuju Highland Vegetable Plant (Taketa City, Oita)
sunlight/artificial-light hybrid type
- Toward vitalizing regional agriculture -

Basic information

Facility name (location)	Kuju Highland Vegetable Plant (Taketa City, Oita)
Company name (category); factsory-type	Swedeponic Kuju Co. Ltd., (farmer/agricultural production corporation); sunlight/artificial-light hybrid type
Establishment; major products	1997, parsley and basil
Actual land area	3,300 square meters
Output	144 tons/year, 1.2 million pots/year, and 10 crops/year
Land category / use	Farmland (agricultural promotion area)
Employees(regular/part-time)	16 (total)
Remarks	Employs 2 persons with disabilities

Background

The building cost of the factory was about ¥500 million, which was financed by the company’s own fund (¥200 million) and subsidies (¥300 million). Since this was Japan’s first plant factory to introduce a Swedeponic system, the Kuju town government provided cooperation. It took about eight months to construct the factory.

Features of this plant factory

The Swedeponic system was developed in Sweden and is characterized by production lines that move and spread as the vegetables grow. To allow growing seedlings to catch more light, the space between the lines is automatically widened in four steps until the vegetables are ready to be shipped. This system requires only a little human labor. However, not every process is automated, intentionally leaving certain manual work to be performed.

Although the system is capable of producing up to 10,000 pots a day, depending on the type of product, its current daily output is set to 6,000 pots for production adjustment. After being harvested, products are shipped to department stores and supermarkets across Japan by truck or air for delivery the next morning.

Just after establishment, three kinds of vegetables (lettuce, spinach, and parsley) were grown at the factory, but their sales were sluggish during times when non-factory-grown vegetables are available. Due to financial difficulties, the company switched production to herbs in the third year. Subsequently, sales were boosted when a gardening boom began in the fifth year, allowing the company to manage to continue the business. Knowing that the only way to make the business profitable was to either increase sales or cut the costs of transport, heat, and electricity, Swedeponic Kuju changed the specifications for shipping carton boxes and redesigned the packing style in a way that would stabilize the volume of shipments.

The company had a hard time finding customers. In some cases, it heard criticism that its products could not be sold as vegetables because they came with roots. The company is aware that the products are not suited for industrial use because of the roots, which need to be disposed of.
Swedeponic Kuju is struggling to figure out what will sell.

Future challenges and a message from the company to those considering entry in the business

In order to understand consumers’ needs, you should find as many customers as possible that make direct contact with consumers so that you can obtain up-to-date information and make proposals accordingly.

The plant factory gives its products selling points such as being produced in Japan and using no or reduced levels of pesticide, which both appeal to consumers at a time when they are highly conscious of food safety. These products also meet the need for high quality food. Stable supplies and a higher resistance to the influence of weather are also competitive advantages.

The most pronounced disadvantage is the products being weaker in taste, flavor, and aroma than vegetables grown in open ground. From the financial standpoint, the development of processed foods is essential.

¥1=US$ 0.01

Extracts from the Handbook of Practices at Plant Factories: Published by the Ministry of Agriculture, Forestry and Fisheries and the Ministry of Economy, Trade and Industry

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