Progress of sustainable agriculture
Sustainable production of raw materials
The Calbee Group is devising new ways to utilize these potatoes to expand consumption, while also striving to sustain and stimulate domestic agriculture itself. In response to the current problems such as declining harvests and diminishing quality resulting from climate change and labor shortages in agriculture, we will leverage our own technologies to improve productivity in agriculture, while also supporting programs for farming, expanding into new products and potato production areas, in order to achieve sustainable production of raw materials.
Main initiatives
Environmentally conscious stable procurement of potatoes
Developing new products for disease resistance and in response to climate change
The biggest risks we face in procurement are the impacts of climate change and the spread of pests and other invasive disturbances. In response, we are collaborating with research institutions at home and abroad to develop new potato varieties that are heat tolerant, seasonally late, and disease resistant.
The Poroshiri variety that was registered as a new proprietary variety by the Calbee Group in 2017 is more pest-resistant than existing varieties and is expected to produce larger harvests, showing great promise for more widespread use. We will continue to promote the Poroshiri. In order to ensure the steady procurement of potatoes, we will make continued efforts to improve our technologies to develop varieties that are resilient to climate change and generate new varieties.
Poroshiri registered as a new variety
Developing varieties at the Potato Research Center, Calbee Potato, Inc. (Hokkaido)
Practicing science-based agriculture
The Calbee Group is promoting the use of agricultural platforms that link information related to producers, potato fields, cultivation, storage, and weather, and promoting procurement based on these science-based potato cultivation techniques. One of the examples undergoing verification trials is a smartphone app that provides producers with suggested irrigation* times based on data provided by soil moisture meters installed in potato fields. The goal is to maintain the soil moisture necessary for domestic-grown potatoes, which should help increase yield.
* Irrigation means the practice of supplying water to crops.
Soil moisture meter installed in a potato field
Comparison of irrigated and unirrigated land when irrigation is optimized by the use of soil moisture meters
Expanding and supporting the business of contractors
Japan has a low food self-sufficiency rate of 38%* calculated on a calorie basis and, to make matters worse, the nation’s farming population is decreasing every year. Reducing workloads and stabilizing farmer incomes to find more farmers are pressing concerns.
Potatoes are a particularly labor-intensive crop. The Calbee Group has provided a broad range of cultivation and harvesting support to reduce the workload of contract farmers. One form of such support is our contractor business. By introducing large machinery, we are helping farmers with the more labor-intensive harvesting tasks and increasing the amount of planted acreage of potatoes. We support contract farmers by continuing our contractor business.
* "Japan's Food Self-Sufficiency Rate 2022" by the Ministry of Agriculture, Forestry and Fisheries
Two-row harvesters capable of harvesting two planted furrows simultaneously.
Expanding potato production areas
Torrential rains, typhoons, and droughts are increasing in severity each year due to climate change. The potato harvest was severely impacted by the typhoon that struck Hokkaido in 2016 and by the drought in 2021. To address the risks that climate change poses to potato procurement, the Calbee Group is making efforts to expand our farming areas in Hokkaido and expand new potato production land in places such as Tohoku and Kitakyushu.
Partnership agreement with the Hokuren Federation of Agricultural Cooperatives
Calbee has entered into a partnership agreement with the Hokuren Federation of Agricultural Cooperatives to promote potatoes and other agricultural produce grown in Hokkaido. The partnership encompasses all aspects of business operations from the expansion of planted acreage of potatoes to collaboration in the storage and distribution processes and product development. By making good use of our strengths and theirs through the partnership, we seek to build a collaborative business model that promotes agriculture in Hokkaido as well as in the rest of the country.
Since 2021, CHIPS NEXT Yokunetaimo Kitaakari made with Hokuren's original potatoes have been sold on the Calbee official online shop Calbee Marche and at some Calbee Plus stores as the first product launched in celebration of the partnership.
