Start of Operation of Smart Agriculture Plant in Sapporo - Second Production Base Following Plant in Tomakomai City, Completion Ceremony Held May 26 -

29 May 2017
JFE Engineering Corporation
J Farm Corporation

On May 26, J Farm Corporation ^*1 (President: Hiroshi Horiuchi, Head Office: Sapporo, Hokkaido), a group company of JFE Engineering Corporation (President and CEO: Hajime Oshita, Head Office: Chiyoda-ku, Tokyo), held the Completion Ceremony for a new Smart Agriculture Plant, which was constructed in Sapporo City. Approximately 100 guests and related persons attended the ceremony, beginning with Ms. Harumi Takahashi, the Governor of Hokkaido, and Mr. Katsuhiro Akimoto, the Mayor of Sapporo.

J Farm Corporation already produces tomatoes and baby leaf at its 2.5 ha Tomakomai Plant, which was constructed in 2014. In April 2016, the company decided to construct a new dedicated tomato cultivation plant to respond to expanding customer needs, thereby creating a two base production system with the existing plant in Tomakomai City.
The Sapporo Plant received about 1/2 of the funds necessary for construction from the "FY2016 Grants-in-Aid for Creation of Strong Agriculture," ^*2 which is a financial assistance program of Japan's Ministry of Agriculture, Forestry and Fisheries. The plant was completed in December 2016, and shipments began in April 2017.

The base energy source adopted for the plant is a pair of biomass boilers. ^*3 This is an original JFE Engineering technology, which is equipped with an exhaust gas purification system and supplies heat and CO2 to the greenhouses.
An original snow-melting system was also installed in the greenhouse to cope with the heavy snowfalls in the region while also holding down energy costs.

J Farm Corporation stably produces safe, securevegetables at its two bases in Tomakomai and Sapporo, and is expanding its sales channels not only in Japan, but also overseas, beginning with Singapore and Hong Kong.
In the future, the JFE Engineering Group will continue to promote the formation of new agriculture by Smart Agricultures plants utilizing advanced technologies.

• *1 J Farm Corporation is a joint venture which was established in November 2013 by JFE Engineering Corporation and Add-One Farm (President: Yuya Miyamoto, Head Office: Sapporo, Hokkaido).
• *2 Selected in the priority framework "Regional Development of Next-Generation Facility Horticulture," which was newly created in FY 2016 in the Grants-in-Aid for Creation of Strong Agriculture program. This new system provides grants for advanced controlled-environment type cultivation facilities that utilize regional energy and advanced technologies. Among necessary conditions, object facilities must reduce the use of fossil fuels by 50% or more in comparison with conventional equipment. The Sapporo plant realizes this by using biomass boilers as a heat source and CO2 source.
• *3 As the base heat source, the facility uses biomass boilers (450 kW x 2 units) fueled with wood chips. In addition to this, the plant is also equipped with natural gas-fired hot water boilers (1,160 kW x 3 units) as a heat source for peak periods.

Scene inside the Sapporo Plant

Tape-cutting at the Completion Ceremony