With the prices of farming on the rise in addition to considerations about its influence on the atmosphere, the race is on to seek out extra sustainable methods to supply meals. Based in 2016, Oishii Farm has pursued vertical farming as an alternative choice to typical agriculture and is opening a analysis middle in Japan in 2025. We spoke with Oishii Farm’s Chief of Workers Maehara Hiroki in regards to the firm’s distinctive strategy to agriculture, advertising, and expertise.
Revolutionizing the Form of Agriculture
CEO Koga Hiroki got here up with the concept for Oishii Farm with the corporate’s chief working officer, Brendan Somerville. The 2 met whereas pursuing their MBAs—Koga on the College of California, Berkeley, and Somerville on the College of California, Los Angeles. With a shared curiosity in selling sustainability, the pair have been drawn to the concept of vertical farming.
Vertical farming optimizes rising situations through the use of stacked layers of trays in a managed atmosphere, to develop recent crops year-round, no matter local weather or location.
“There are lots of benefits,” explains Maehara. “We are able to develop our produce year-round. And since vertical farms don’t require agricultural land, they are often constructed in places the place you wouldn’t usually anticipate farming to be doable. Our closed-loop system additionally permits for environment friendly water recycling and power conservation, eliminating the necessity for pesticides.”
The best benefit is reliability and world applicability. “Our farms function independently of exterior environmental situations as a result of we will management the atmosphere, enabling us to develop recent vegetables and fruit anyplace on the earth, year-round.”
By integrating LED lights and local weather monitoring, vertical farms provide a steady and sustainable answer for contemporary agriculture.
Style Comes First: Beginning with Strawberries
After founding Oishii Farm in 2016, Koga rapidly realized that the potential of vertical farming expertise would imply nothing with no marketable product to draw customers. Drawing on reminiscences of his childhood in Tokyo, he determined that the reply lay in strawberries.
“Why strawberries?” says Maehara, with a smile. “Strawberries are particular to individuals—they’re a deal with. When it comes to advertising, customers are inclined to desire sure manufacturers of strawberries based mostly on style and look. As a brand new firm, turning into identified for notably scrumptious strawberries is an effective way to ascertain model recognition inside a aggressive market.”
At first, Oishii Farm centered on the posh market, rising their berries at a vertical farm in New Jersey and promoting them primarily to Michelin-starred eating places and celebrities. In 2022, they expanded their gross sales to prime grocery places corresponding to Complete Meals in New York. The corporate developed two signature manufacturers, Omakase Berry and Koyo Berry, that quickly gained consideration in the USA, even making an look on tv when Hollywood star Gwyneth Paltrow shared a bundle of Omakase Berries with late-night host Jimmy Kimmel and his viewers.
Whereas this preliminary concentrate on high-end strawberries was essential to extend model consciousness, Oishii Farm has since endeavored to make its fruit extra reasonably priced to the common client. Whereas Paltrow quipped on Kimmel’s present that the berries “have been like 50 {dollars} or one thing,” costs have fallen significantly since, with one bundle now promoting for about 10 {dollars}.
Proving that vertical farming can present scrumptious however reasonably priced meals is the principle objective at Oishii Farm. “Let’s be trustworthy,” says Maehara. “Most individuals take into account two issues on the grocery store: style and worth.” Demonstrating that this enterprise mannequin can work is the important thing to encouraging the enlargement of sustainable agriculture. Having lately diversified into tomatoes, Oishii Farm is already pushing this progress ahead.
Selling Japanese Agriculture and Expertise to the World
On the similar time, Koga selected strawberries because the flagship fruit of Oishii Farm, whereas he and Somerville sought to maximise the optimistic picture of Japanese meals and farming worldwide. The pair named their firm after the Japanese phrase for “scrumptious” (oishii) and their signature berry varieties after “chef’s choice” (omakase) and “elated” (koyo).
Along with its enterprise in the USA, Oishii Farm has registered its Japanese subsidiary in Tokyo (Shibuya). As Maehara explains, Tokyo just isn’t solely a world chief in sustainable agricultural analysis and improvement but in addition a hotbed of innovation in lots of different fields essential to vertical farming. Whereas vertical farms are, in reality, farms by way of end result, in addition they share many traits with factories, together with robotics, automation, water recycling, and monitoring methods.
One main hurdle dealing with closed-loop farming methods has lengthy been the necessity for pollination. Whereas pollinating flowers with brush-wielding people or robots is feasible, it’s inefficient and costly. Having advanced via thousands and thousands of years to do the job, bees are preferable, however getting them to pollinate flowers inside a vertical farming setting has lengthy pissed off researchers. In recent times, nevertheless, Oishii Farm turned the primary firm to attain large-scale, steady, and pure pollination utilizing bees inside a closed-loop farming system.
At a deeper stage, the corporate takes an energetic function in selling Japanese agriculture and expertise around the globe. Koga beforehand gave a TED Discuss and was a session speaker at SusHi Tech Tokyo 2024 International Startup Program which is a world startup and innovation convention hosted by the Tokyo Metropolitan Authorities. He’s set to return as a session speaker at SusHi Tech Tokyo 2025. The corporate additionally attended SusHi Tech International in Abu Dhabi, UAE, the place Maehara was excited to see what number of delegates from around the globe held a optimistic picture of Japan, Japanese meals, and Japanese farming.
“I used to be positively shocked,” he admits. “It jogged my memory that meals has a bigger function to play in our lives than merely filling our bellies. In fact, vitamin is essential, however meals has a cultural facet as effectively, one thing that we will all discover pleasure in. By sharing our meals, in addition to the expertise that makes meals extra sustainable and accessible for all, I really consider that we will forge deeper connections that cross nationwide boundaries.”
SusHi Tech Tokyo, brief for Sustainable Excessive Metropolis Tech Tokyo, is a Tokyo-based idea that goals to create sustainable new worth by overcoming world city challenges via cutting-edge expertise, various concepts, and digital experience
Interview and writing by Trevor Kew
