Fujitsu, ORIX, Masuda Seed, Iwata City to study smart agriculture project

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Fujitsu Limited, ORIX Corp, Masuda Seed Co and Iwata City in Shizuoka Prefecture have reached a basic agreement to begin considering the launch of the Iwata Smart Agriculture Project, an initiative intended to realize regional development based on agriculture.

In addition to the three core companies of Fujitsu, ORIX and Masuda Seed, the project seeks to bring together expertise from corporations and organizations spanning a variety of sectors, including nursery companies with specialized expertise, agricultural producers with high-level cultivation technology, distributors and food processing companies with a good sense of the market, local governments, educational institutions, and manufacturers of agricultural machinery and supplies. The project is designed to co-create new business models encompassing the entire food and agriculture value chain – from seedlings, crop production, processing and shipping, to sales.

Through this project, the participants said they hope to enhance the region’s agriculture and contribute to its revitalization through the creation of new and critical local industries and brands.

Background

Japan’s agricultural production is of high quality in terms of flavor, form, and safety, and it offers a wide variety of products. However, Japanese agriculture also faces many challenges, such as an increase in the amount of arable, but abandoned land, and the aging population of farmers. In many cases, these problems are rooted in inflexible business models that, for example, prevent progress in cooperation between nursery companies that possess good technology and top-notch producers, or that prevent vendors from being able to take action even when they come up with new growth strategies. To resolve these problems, there is a need for multiple players focused on agriculture to come together to develop co-creation style smart agriculture projects.

The Iwata Smart Agriculture Project seeks to bring together expertise from nursery companies, agricultural producers, distributors and food processing companies, local governments, educational institutions, financial institutions, and manufacturers of agricultural machinery and supplies, including ICT. By creating new business models encompassing the entire food and agriculture value chain (from seedlings, crop production, processing and shipping, to sales), the project seeks to strengthen Japanese agriculture and revitalize the community.