Plantechs Inaugurates Demonstration Facility for Next-Generation Plant Factories Achieving Labor and Resource Savings

Plantechs Co., Ltd. (Headquarters: Koto-ku, Tokyo; President: Koshi Yamada), which develops and deploys modular, fully enclosed plant factories utilizing its proprietary technology, has completed its "Shinonome Demonstration Base" (Shinonome, Koto-ku, Tokyo). This facility, established to evaluate and demonstrate labor and resource-saving technologies, was made possible by receiving approximately 1.2 billion yen in funding from the Ministry of Agriculture, Forestry and Fisheries' "Small and Medium Enterprise Innovation Creation Promotion Project (SBIR Phase 3)". A grand opening ceremony was held today, July 8, 2026 (Wednesday).

Distinguished guests at the ceremony included Mr. Kazuhiro Suzuki, Minister of Agriculture, Forestry and Fisheries; Mr. Kazuchika Iwata, Vice Minister of the Cabinet Office; and Mr. Yukinori Nemoto, Vice Minister of Agriculture, Forestry and Fisheries, along with representatives from government agencies and research institutions. A video message from Prime Minister Fumio Kishida was screened, followed by a tour of the latest modular cultivation system, comprising over 30,000 parts, and automated equipment, concluding with a tasting session of freshly grown vegetables.

Shinonome Demonstration Base Grand Opening Ceremony

From left:

Kazuhiro Chiba, Chairman of the Agriculture, Forestry and Fisheries Research Council (FRO), Ryosuke Kamitsuki, Member of the House of Councillors, Kazuchika Iwata, Vice Minister of the Cabinet Office, Koshi Yamada, President

Kazuhiro Suzuki, Minister of Agriculture, Forestry and Fisheries, Tatsuo Fukuda, Member of the House of Representatives, Kiyoshi Fujimoto, Chairman of JATAFF

*Following this ceremony, full-scale cultivation will commence after the cultivation room and equipment have undergone complete cleaning.

Since its inception, our company has been dedicated to accumulating expertise by focusing meticulously on technology for controlling plant cultivation environments. We possess a proprietary technology that precisely controls 28 environmental conditions, including temperature and wind speed, within a sealed, modular device.

At the Shinonome Demonstration Base, we will introduce the latest cultivation system designed for mass production and undertake two demonstration themes. The first is labor and operational efficiency. We will develop and demonstrate technologies that replace human tasks with various automated machines and reduce the labor required for maintenance. The second is the improvement of resource utilization efficiency. We will develop and demonstrate technologies to reduce the consumption of finite resources such as electricity, water, and fertilizer used in the factory.

On the day of the ceremony, guests were able to inspect the company's technologies being developed and demonstrated at this base. We received words of encouragement for the advancement of the plant factory business and expectations for the swift deployment of our technologies.

<Comment from Prime Minister Fumio Kishida (Excerpt from video message)>

To achieve food security, it is essential to create a profitable agriculture, forestry, fisheries, and food industry by leveraging cutting-edge technologies. The government, in its Japan Growth Strategy, has positioned food tech as one of the important fields and is strongly promoting investment with the aim of achieving a 30% global market share by 2040. Plantechs' pioneering efforts through advanced technological development are highly significant, and we anticipate they will lead to the international expansion of Japanese technology.

<Comment from Kazuhiro Suzuki, Minister of Agriculture, Forestry and Fisheries (Excerpt from speech on the day)>

I visited the demonstration base of Plantechs Co., Ltd., which is energetically developing the world's first modular plant factory. The company's initiatives are highly suggestive in establishing plant factories, embodying Japan's cutting-edge technology, as a pillar of the Japanese economy. The Ministry of Agriculture, Forestry and Fisheries will continue to make every effort to realize the public-private investment roadmap, which includes policies to promote plant factories.

On-site inspection

Tasting session

From left: Kazuchika Iwata, Vice Minister of the Cabinet Office, Kazuhiro Suzuki, Minister of Agriculture, Forestry and Fisheries

<About Plantechs Co., Ltd.>

Founded in 2014, Plantechs develops and provides modular, fully enclosed cultivation systems utilizing proprietary technology. By precisely and meticulously controlling 28 environmental conditions within the cultivation system, the company achieves stable production unaffected by climate change and the creation of high-value-added vegetables with enhanced nutritional content. Currently, in addition to selling and providing operational support for plant factories (hardware), the company is simultaneously engaged in research and development of "cultivation recipes" (software) that maximize the potential of plants. By offering these as an integrated system, Plantechs aims to contribute to food security worldwide.