Regarding the Development of "Next-Generation Rice Farming Business" Through Capital Participation in Rice Field, One of Japan's Leading Rice Production Corporations
Vegetalia announces a capital and business alliance with Rice Field to establish a sustainable and highly profitable next-generation rice farming model using AI and biotechnology. This initiative addresses Japan's agricultural challenges, such as soaring fertilizer costs and climate change, aiming for nationwide expansion.
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- 📰 Published: April 15, 2026 at 03:53
- 🔍 Collected: April 14, 2026 at 19:31
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Vegetalia, Inc. (Headquarters: Shibuya-ku, Tokyo, President: Satoshi Koike, hereinafter "Vegetalia") announces that it has made a capital participation in Rice Field Co., Ltd. (Headquarters: Matsue City, Shimane Prefecture, Representative Director: Masahiro Yoshioka, hereinafter "Rice Field") and entered into a capital and business alliance. By bringing together both companies' knowledge, technology, know-how centered on agriculture, plant science, digital technology, and management resources, the alliance aims to establish a sustainable and highly profitable agricultural model that responds to environmental changes surrounding agriculture, such as climate change, decarbonization, soaring prices of materials like chemical fertilizers and fuel, and food security. This initiative aims to contribute to the innovation of Japan's next-generation agriculture and the development of future farmers.
Based on Japan's agricultural structure, which relies almost entirely on imports for raw materials of chemical fertilizers, we will build a fertilizer-saving, labor-saving, low-cost, and highly profitable next-generation rice farming model utilizing AI/IoT and biotechnology. We aim to expand this new agricultural model nationwide, achieving both the expansion of business scale, food security, and decarbonization.
1. Background of the Capital and Business Alliance
Japan's agriculture depends on imports for almost the entire amount of the three major chemical fertilizer elements (nitrogen, phosphate, potassium), making it highly susceptible to international affairs. While fertilizer prices surged fourfold during Russia's invasion of Ukraine in 2022, global uncertainty in the supply of chemical fertilizers and soaring prices are returning due to concerns over the blockade of the Strait of Hormuz amidst rising tensions in Iran, beginning to pressure agricultural management.
The government has also designated fertilizers as a critical technology for economic security. To promote the domestic production of fertilizers (utilizing biomass) and fertilizer reduction, a research and development initiative for "Technologies regarding effective utilization, reduction, and production of fertilizer components using advanced technologies such as synthetic biology and data science (stable food production)" started this fiscal year under the Economic Security Critical Technology Fostering Program. Accelerating smart agriculture technologies alongside promoting resource-circulating agriculture, climate change adaptation, new cultivation methods, and new agricultural materials makes the structural transformation of agriculture to new cultivation systems an urgent issue.
(1) Yield and quality instability due to climate change
(2) Economic security risks of relying almost 100% on imported chemical fertilizer raw materials and fossil fuels
(3) Profit pressure due to soaring chemical fertilizer and fuel prices
(4) Shortage of successors and aging farming population
(5) Response to decarbonization and carbon neutrality
(6) Needs for resource-circulating and regenerative agriculture
(7) Business succession issues in large-scale agricultural enterprises
2. Objectives of the Capital and Business Alliance
Centered on a transition to "data-driven agriculture" and "next-generation agriculture utilizing AI and biotechnology," the alliance aims to undertake the following initiatives:
(1) Improvement of productivity and profitability (DX)
(2) Reduction of environmental impact (GX)
(3) Fertilizer reduction through AI and biotechnology (Regenerative)
(4) Facilitation of business succession and management stability/sustainability through capital participation as a stable shareholder
(5) Development of next-generation farmers (smart agriculture human resources) and creation of regional employment
(6) Dissemination and expansion as a next-generation agricultural management model
3. Business Details
Based on its research, development, and validation results thus far, Vegetalia will fuse its expertise with Rice Field's rice cultivation techniques and management know-how. Through regenerative farming utilizing AI and biotechnology, we will establish a rice cultivation system that minimizes the use of chemical fertilizers and fossil fuels, expanding production scale nationwide.
Rice Field will introduce AI, smart agriculture technologies, and fertilizer reduction technologies, further combining large-scale cost reduction with data utilization to establish a highly profitable agricultural model.
In this alliance, Vegetalia's capital participation in Rice Field, making it an equity-method affiliate, also aims to ensure smooth business succession, management stabilization, and sustainability.
(1) Introduction of AI and smart agriculture technologies
- Visualization and automation of rice farming water management using IoT/AI
- Optimization of fertilization, pest control, operational plans, and management plans through AI cultivation calendars
- Introduction of digital twins via real-time growth monitoring and AI prediction
(2) Promotion of GX (Green Transformation)
- Methane reduction through prolonged mid-season drainage and biochar
- Creation and utilization of J-Credits (balancing decarbonization and profitability)
- Transition to decarbonized agriculture
(3) Implementation of regenerative agriculture
- Soil flora analysis and soil improvement
- Utilization of synthetic biology and data science
- Improving fertilizer absorption efficiency through microorganism activation
- Domestic production of fertilizers utilizing biomass
Based on Japan's agricultural structure, which relies almost entirely on imports for raw materials of chemical fertilizers, we will build a fertilizer-saving, labor-saving, low-cost, and highly profitable next-generation rice farming model utilizing AI/IoT and biotechnology. We aim to expand this new agricultural model nationwide, achieving both the expansion of business scale, food security, and decarbonization.
1. Background of the Capital and Business Alliance
Japan's agriculture depends on imports for almost the entire amount of the three major chemical fertilizer elements (nitrogen, phosphate, potassium), making it highly susceptible to international affairs. While fertilizer prices surged fourfold during Russia's invasion of Ukraine in 2022, global uncertainty in the supply of chemical fertilizers and soaring prices are returning due to concerns over the blockade of the Strait of Hormuz amidst rising tensions in Iran, beginning to pressure agricultural management.
The government has also designated fertilizers as a critical technology for economic security. To promote the domestic production of fertilizers (utilizing biomass) and fertilizer reduction, a research and development initiative for "Technologies regarding effective utilization, reduction, and production of fertilizer components using advanced technologies such as synthetic biology and data science (stable food production)" started this fiscal year under the Economic Security Critical Technology Fostering Program. Accelerating smart agriculture technologies alongside promoting resource-circulating agriculture, climate change adaptation, new cultivation methods, and new agricultural materials makes the structural transformation of agriculture to new cultivation systems an urgent issue.
(1) Yield and quality instability due to climate change
(2) Economic security risks of relying almost 100% on imported chemical fertilizer raw materials and fossil fuels
(3) Profit pressure due to soaring chemical fertilizer and fuel prices
(4) Shortage of successors and aging farming population
(5) Response to decarbonization and carbon neutrality
(6) Needs for resource-circulating and regenerative agriculture
(7) Business succession issues in large-scale agricultural enterprises
2. Objectives of the Capital and Business Alliance
Centered on a transition to "data-driven agriculture" and "next-generation agriculture utilizing AI and biotechnology," the alliance aims to undertake the following initiatives:
(1) Improvement of productivity and profitability (DX)
(2) Reduction of environmental impact (GX)
(3) Fertilizer reduction through AI and biotechnology (Regenerative)
(4) Facilitation of business succession and management stability/sustainability through capital participation as a stable shareholder
(5) Development of next-generation farmers (smart agriculture human resources) and creation of regional employment
(6) Dissemination and expansion as a next-generation agricultural management model
3. Business Details
Based on its research, development, and validation results thus far, Vegetalia will fuse its expertise with Rice Field's rice cultivation techniques and management know-how. Through regenerative farming utilizing AI and biotechnology, we will establish a rice cultivation system that minimizes the use of chemical fertilizers and fossil fuels, expanding production scale nationwide.
Rice Field will introduce AI, smart agriculture technologies, and fertilizer reduction technologies, further combining large-scale cost reduction with data utilization to establish a highly profitable agricultural model.
In this alliance, Vegetalia's capital participation in Rice Field, making it an equity-method affiliate, also aims to ensure smooth business succession, management stabilization, and sustainability.
(1) Introduction of AI and smart agriculture technologies
- Visualization and automation of rice farming water management using IoT/AI
- Optimization of fertilization, pest control, operational plans, and management plans through AI cultivation calendars
- Introduction of digital twins via real-time growth monitoring and AI prediction
(2) Promotion of GX (Green Transformation)
- Methane reduction through prolonged mid-season drainage and biochar
- Creation and utilization of J-Credits (balancing decarbonization and profitability)
- Transition to decarbonized agriculture
(3) Implementation of regenerative agriculture
- Soil flora analysis and soil improvement
- Utilization of synthetic biology and data science
- Improving fertilizer absorption efficiency through microorganism activation
- Domestic production of fertilizers utilizing biomass