Fukaya City Opens Applications for DEEP VALLEY Agritech Award 2026 on May 15

Fukaya City began accepting applications on May 15, Friday, through a dedicated website for the “DEEP VALLEY Agritech Award 2026,” a business contest aimed at solving challenges in agriculture. “Agritech” is a coined term combining agriculture and technology, referring to innovative agriculture powered by technology. Launched with the goal of realizing a “profitable agricultural city,” the DEEP VALLEY Agritech Award has been held seven times to date. While continuously evolving through initiatives such as expanding its scope across the entire food value chain and building a global partnership with Grand Farm in North Dakota, the United States, the award has received a cumulative total of 173 company entries. As a result, investments have been made in five companies, and six government-supported smart agriculture projects have been deployed in Fukaya City, creating tangible local change. At the same time, the city has strongly recognized a difficult reality: no matter how innovative the technology or how excellent the idea, the barrier to moving agritech beyond mere technology development, entering actual farmland, and turning it into a successful business is far higher and tougher than expected. For this reason, the 2026 award will change significantly. This year’s theme, as in the previous year, is “Agriculture × ○○ = Future.” However, the city is no longer seeking only ideas. The focus is on thoroughly strengthening the “connection phase,” linking technology and farming sites more firmly and accelerating projects from demonstration to social implementation and commercialization. As proof of this commitment, the city has newly established an activity outsourcing program totaling 10 million yen, in addition to the existing investment prize money. This is not merely a reward; it is a “ticket for co-creation” for challengers to work closely with farmers in Fukaya’s fields and take on the practical implementation of their businesses. Looking five and ten years into the future, Fukaya City aims to become more than just a demonstration field. It envisions itself as a robust ecosystem where agritech companies, farmers, and diverse players are organically connected, and where new business models for agriculture and food emerge and grow autonomously one after another. The city firmly believes that technologies implemented and refined in Fukaya’s fields will eventually become new agricultural standards spreading across Japan and the world. The award seeks challengers who genuinely want to change the future of agriculture. Fukaya City invites people who will not stop at deskbound theories, but who can stay close to farmers’ real challenges, work side by side with the field, and commit to commercialization outcomes. Fukaya City will support these challenges with all available resources, including field matching, provision of demonstration sites, and financial support. Regardless of whether applicants receive investment or win an award, the city will work together with them to create the future of agriculture and food. The award is hosted by Fukaya City. The secretariat is the DEEP VALLEY Agritech Award Secretariat, operated by Unique Piece Inc. and SHAPE Inc. The contact email is agritechaward@deep-valley.jp. The theme is “Agriculture × ○○ = Future.” The award broadly invites proposals that use free thinking to address ideas across the primary to sixth-sector processes surrounding agriculture, including agricultural management and the food value chain, and that can co-create the future of agriculture. Examples of ○○ include weeding, robots, sales, people, products, digital, and consulting. Eligible applicants are individuals or corporations capable of implementing initiatives to solve or improve agricultural challenges related to agricultural production, farm management, food processing and manufacturing, distribution and transportation, and sales and consumption in Fukaya City and beyond, regardless of whether they win an award. Applicants may be located inside or outside Fukaya City. DEEP VALLEY member companies, past applicants to the DEEP VALLEY Agritech Award, and group applications are also eligible. Companies whose primary purpose is sales or other commercial solicitation are not eligible and are advised to register as DEEP VALLEY members. The pre-entry period runs from 10:00 a.m. on May 15, Friday, to noon on May 27, Wednesday. The full entry period runs from noon on May 28, Thursday, to 5:00 p.m. on June 19, Friday. Applicants must complete the designated entry sheet in Japanese and submit it, together with supplementary and reference materials, through the website application form during the full entry period. Supplementary and reference materials are mandatory and must be attached separately as a compressed file such as ZIP, up to 5MB including the entry sheet. If the file exceeds 5MB, applicants should attach only the entry sheet in ZIP format through the application form and send the supplementary and reference materials separately to the DEEP VALLEY Agritech Award Secretariat. Fukaya City is also seeking sponsor companies and companies interested in the corporate version of the hometown tax donation program that support its initiatives. Inquiries should be sent to agritechaward@deep-valley.jp.