YAMAMOTO, Miyagi Prefecture--A venture capital company executive returned from Tokyo to southern Miyagi Prefecture to see what he could do for his hometown that was devastated by the 2011 earthquake and tsunami. The result was an extraordinary sweet and aromatic strawberry that can carry a price tag of 1,000 yen ($8.50) a pop.
YAMAMOTO, Miyagi Prefecture--A venture capital company executive returned from Tokyo to southern Miyagi Prefecture to see what he could do for his hometown that was devastated by the 2011 earthquake and tsunami. The result was an extraordinary sweet and aromatic strawberry that can carry a price tag of 1,000 yen ($8.50) a pop.
Hiroki Iwasa, 37, teamed up with 66-year-old Tadatsugu Hashimoto, a veteran strawberry farmer, in Yamamoto. They combined Iwasa’s prowess in IT with Hashimoto’s more than 35 years of farming experience to come up with the Migaki Ichigo brand.
Packaged in individual boxes, the strawberries have sold very well at the Isetan department store chain’s main outlet in Tokyo’s Shinjuku district. On Dec. 23, the price was 756 yen each, including tax. Many of the strawberries were pre-ordered.
The Migaki Ichigo strawberries at Isetan were picked the previous day at a greenhouse in Yamamoto run by GRA, an agricultural production corporation. The brand name is only applied to strawberries of the finest quality. They have a sweetness level 1.5 to 2 times that of a standard strawberry.
GRA selects only strawberries from varieties such as Tochiotome and Moikko, which are large and have a pure red, conical shape. Hailing the fruits as “edible gems,” department stores sold Migaki Ichigo in 2012 for 1,000 yen each. On some days, their entire stock was sold out.
The greenhouse where the Migaki Ichigo strawberries grow automatically adjusts the temperature and carbon-dioxide density. Windows are open or shut depending on wind direction.
When supply outpaces demand, GRA controls the production volume by, for example, lowering the temperature to slow the ripening of the strawberries.
Iwasa, the GRA founder, makes full use of IT for the growing methods but also relies on conventional farming techniques. The GRA system adjusts the temperature inside the greenhouse if Hashimoto feels it is a bit cold.
The system seeks optimal growing conditions according to the outside temperature, humidity and the season by repeatedly conducting weekly cultivation tests with varying amounts of water, fertilizer and sunshine.
“We can quantitatively examine our strawberry farming thus far,” Hashimoto says. This allows many people to farm the same way without making so many mistakes.
Iwasa moved from Yamamoto to Tokyo, where he ran an IT venture firm, after graduating from high school.
The tsunami spawned by the March 2011 Great East Japan Earthquake hit Yamamoto hard and affected the livelihoods of 90 percent of the town’s strawberry farmers, its primary industry.
The town’s population is aging, and the number of people available to inherit farming businesses has been declining.
“I want to stimulate my hometown’s economy with strawberries, which have always supported this place,” Iwasa said of his decision to return to Yamamoto.
GRA began growing strawberries on tsunami-swept soil in shelves placed above ground level. Iwasa bought other high-end strawberries and even studied their packaging so he could ship directly to retailers.
The company now has a 100-meter-square greenhouse 4.5 meters tall on land that was once strewn with tsunami rubble. Workers carry tablet computers to check the strawberries’ growth status.
Iwasa is also looking ahead. Next year, the company will start assisting first-time strawberry growers by sharing information, such as cultivating techniques, managerial know-how and how to set up equipment.
GRA also continues to organize tours of its farm for junior high and high school students to get young people interested in agriculture.
In addition, GRA plans to build facilities in farming villages overseas to create jobs. GRA has a large greenhouse in India, where strawberries are typically small and sour. The Indian greenhouse managed to start shipping large, sweet strawberries in 2013.
“I want to get people to think agriculture is cool,” Iwasa says. “I want them to know that even from a small Miyagi town, you can expand worldwide.”