Strawberry cake is popular. Strawberries are a fruit that is in high demand throughout the year for cake shops and other places. However, it is quite difficult to grow this crop all year round. Strawberries do not flower easily or flowering is delayed when temperatures are high for a long period of time. For this reason, seedlings are usually planted after September to avoid high temperatures. Shipping begins in earnest around December when Christmas demand increases, and peaks in March of the following year. The trading price at the central wholesale market in 2023 was 1,379 yen per kg in March, the peak shipping season. At the peak, supply increases and prices fall. The price in December was 2,504 yen. What was surprising was that in October it was 3,691 yen, 2.7 times higher than in March. Super-forced cultivation, which can be accelerated by about two months, allows for shipping from autumn to winter, when it can be sold at a high price. At Kamidera Strawberry Farm, they have the technology to start harvesting two months earlier than usual and ship the strawberries when they can be sold at a higher price.
Kamidera Strawberry Farm operates as a strawberry cultivation demonstration facility for Kyushu Electric Power. The greenhouse is about 10 are in size and is fully electric, including the air conditioning. They have developed a cultivation method that allows the planting of strawberries, which are sensitive to heat, to be about two months earlier than usual. It uses a heat pump to place tubes that pass chilled water at the base of the seedlings. The tubes that pass chilled water cool the base of the strawberries, making it possible to plant the seedlings during the hot season. By preventing the temperature at the base of the seedlings from rising, planting in July or August is possible. This greenhouse is excellent for controlling the environment and adjusting the concentration of carbon dioxide and liquid fertilizer.
The system for supplying agricultural products that delivers a fixed amount at the right time according to market demand seems to be a plant factory. Food safety is guaranteed inside the plant factory. There is no increase or decrease in shipments due to weather, and a stable supply is possible. In a plant factory, tomatoes and strawberries can be grown and sold all year round. An efficient plant factory can generate 30 times the profits of the same amount of farmland. Commercially viable crops such as strawberries and tomatoes are already being shipped from factories to global markets. Consumers are increasingly raising their standards. Developed cities around the world are now demanding crops grown without the use of pesticides and herbicides. There is a strong demand for food that is friendly to both humans and the environment. Plant factories have the potential to improve crop production, improve human health, and achieve zero waste.
