Vegetus "Vegetable Factory" I saw the next generation style of stable supply of vegetables at the Kameoka Plant

Make vegetables by hydroponic cultivation and control of light, temperature and humidity in a clean room without using pesticides at all "Vegetas"of"Vegetable factory",ThatMini size versionI covered at the "FOODEX JAPAN 2011" last year, but what exactly is the "vegetable factory" of the head home origin? So I decided to go to the "Kameoka Plant" in Kameoka City, Kyoto Prefecture, to show its actual condition.

Vegetas
http://www.vege-tus.com/

Location"Kamioka prefecture Kamioka shi town mosquito or number 54It is located in the immediate vicinity of the Kameoka interchange of the Kyoto Shoguni Expressway.

View Larger Map

As you go along the road, you will see the character "SPREAD" of "Spreads Co., Ltd." which develops "vegetas" in the front left, the white building, in blue.


As I imagined a place where plants like the factory area were densely populated, the landscape surrounded by rice paddies was a masterpiece.


The rural scenery shining golden color spreads around.



Then let's go inside quickly.


We asked the inside of the building to show us, from the 3rd floor to let us see the "vegetable factory" over the window. Darken the room ......


Raise the window cross ... ...


You can see the lettuce lining up with the slurry. Approximately 600 lettuce is cultivated in one line, and there are 14 lines on this floor. This is produced over 4 floors on the 1st - 4th floors. In addition, the lettuce on the 49th day of cultivation is visible to the foremost, it will be shipped on the 50th day. Other company's vegetable factory has made a high-speed rotation such as 35 days, but since it tastes inevitably by doing it, it is 50 days that becomes "the taste of lettuce" the most, even if it is rather expensive at "vegetas".


"Vegetable factory" is characterized by "Can cultivate vegetables by hydroponic cultivation without using soil to vertically convert agricultural land", thus vegetables are cultivated in 1 line 3 layers. This means that many products can be harvested in limited land. Although it can not be seen from here, in the 2nd plant further in the back, cultivation of 1 line 4 layers is possible, and it is further densified. In the "Kameoka Plant", it is possible to produce about 23,000 shares a day when totaling, and there are no other places that have such a lot of supply power.


For cultivation it is necessary to prepare the environment such as temperature, humidity, light, CO 2, nutrient solution, etc. For example, since water used for nutrient solution is used only for the amount of vegetable inhaled, the amount of It is suppressed to 1 / 20th.


On the contrary, the most costly thing is the electricity cost of fluorescent lamps used to apply the light necessary for photosynthesis. I tried LED fluorescent lights, but probably because of the current technical limitations because of light intensity problems, vegetables did not grow up properly.


Although the fluorescent lamp is turned off on the left side and the fluorescent lamp is on the right side, it is basically designed to irradiate at noon when the electricity cost becomes cheap, and to irradiate the part which could not finish it there in the daytime For.


It is also an advantage to be able to cultivate without agricultural chemicals and aseptic conditions, but in addition to that it keeps constant quality by controlling the cultivation environment, and furthermore it can be stably produced because it is not affected by the season and the weather Also strengths.


This makes it possible to sell at the same price throughout the year without price fluctuations.


Currently it is 4 stories high, all the fine work is human power. So it seems to be possible to make it 30 stories in the future if we can vegetable vegetables from top to bottom and if we can automate the tasks that various human beings are currently doing. Currently it is around 50 to 60 people and I move the shelf briefly everyday, as this labor cost part is the cause of high price, how to automate is the future point.


It was as if I was making a vegetable because it looked like a server room and it was hard to believe me. About 4 years ago, people who came to visit "Are these vegetables okay? He said that it was a level of doubt. However, at present it is a strong appeal to consumers that "it is hard to bite because it is grown in an agrochemical and aseptic condition, so it can not be washed immediately because it is not bought soon", which means that repeaters It seems to be very large. Also, since the earthquake of 3.11 it is "not contaminated by radioactivity" (of course, it has been actually inspected), so the demand has increased further, the supply has not kept up now, and we plan to expand the plant further in the future That's right.


"Vegetus" is the biggest point that "price stability is possible without risks of climate change" because the stable supply is the top priority because price is higher than that of open-field cultivation but not wild. Trial and error has been repeated for 4 years to reach a stable supply now, for example when you attach a fluorescent light, the factory as a whole has a large number, in fact the internal temperature rises, which prevents air circulation, It seems that there are so many walls that I do not know until I try. Moreover, it is uri that each size is constant. Replacing the "balun" used by the local lunch boxer with this lettuce for lunch box side breaks, it became a hit as it looks good and can be eaten. It is said that an unexpected place is hit.


For example, if it is a case putting it to the supermarket, at least 20 packs at the other company in the same industry, and since it uses external distributors, it can only transport three times a week, because it is too much and could not be sold out It is obliged to discard or affix a discount seal, but in the case of "vegetas" it has its own circulation, so it can be shipped daily with the minimum unit of 6 packs. As a result, The thing of "vegetas" is that it is extremely low loss can be popular, and among the production of "vegetas" as a whole it is "what shipping to supermarks is 80% of the total".


Actually, "spread" as a subsidiary "Trade group"There is a company with logistics functions, and we use it to deliver it. In other words, it seems to have realized daily delivery with small lot not available to other companies because of having this original logistics network.


In addition, there are also inquiries from overseas, China, Korea and Taiwan want this facility, and although there is less water in the Middle East, we can talk about the electricity bill, so we have to talk about an inquiry, but we sell "Jaco" factory Because it is the stage of selling the vegetables that I made, it seems that it has not reached the level of selling factory system. "We are currently focusing on improving the facilities that can increase production for a while as the supply has not kept pace with the demand, we have not kept up with the demand that has not become competitive with other vegetable factories," about. As soon as competition came to occur, it was meant to emphasize other vegetable making, such as pepper, for example.


In addition, when entering the inside of the room where this lettuce is cultivated, we wear the following hygiene clothes, sanitary caps, boots for hygiene control.


The interior of the building is like this. There is a feeling of cleanliness with interior decoration based on white.


It is mainly cultivated in this "vegetable factory"lettuceis. It is soft compared to that of open field cultivation, but recently it is popular, and there are few vegetable peculiar vegetables. Because it is sterile, it is difficult to decay, and if put in a refrigerator it lasts longer than ordinary lettuce and it seems to have a maximum of 10 days. Moreover, there is no necessity of washing as it is aseptic condition with no pesticide, and also soil does not stick, and it is possible to eat with haste when taking out from the bag.


For example lettuce (198 yen including tax) isExcelsior CafeIt is used in the menu of. The reason is that "factory lettuce with high safety is evaluated".


Since it is sterile condition, sanitary condition is evaluated remarkably well and it is adopted also for in-flight meal of a certain airline as being safe.


In addition to lettuce, we have produced various kinds in the past, for example, it seems that Mizuna has a very good reputation for restaurants in the restaurant industry. The reason is that the soil is not attached, so that customers can not grind out when they eat, because the claim will be zero. Thus hydroponics has the merit of not affixing soil, but because it did not suit the cost, it is not producing mizuna now. There are other demands that "I want you to make such things", but mostly there are many things such as strawberries and watercresses that are volatile and unstable.


In addition, among the current four varieties, the newest "Mokoretasu" is said to be popular because it means "children who do not like lettuce also have sweetness and eat, so they eat".


One of the reasons for choosing this Kameoka for the construction of the plant is that it was located just outside the Kyoto Longitudinal Expressway and was equipped with convenient location conditions for transportation. The strength is the ability to deliver fresh vegetables immediately after harvest. Besides, it seems that it became here when considering a number of reasons such as being able to apply from farm land to residential land, there being water and electricity. The money to build the plant in Kameoka is about 1.5 billion yen, and he also thinks of building the next factory.


And the following pictures are used for shipping at low temperature transportation. I was just loading the harvested on the truck.


In order to fulfill market demand and compete with existing lettuce, it is now the goal of lowering the price to "158 yen" without further deteriorating taste and quality by accumulating further ingenuity, and finally Will be able to disseminate throughout Japan all over the urban areas where population is high by cutting "100 yen", and if you come there will be another vegetable even more "vegetable factory" to make it more stable It is supposed to be able to supply it.