Yaskawa partners with USA-based startup Oishii on plant factory automation

Japan's Yaskawa Electric Corporation has announced it has reached a capital and business alliance with the USA-based vertical farming company, Oishii Farm Corporation. The purpose of the partnership is to become a global leader in automation in the agricultural and food fields by providing Oishii plant factories with automation systems based on the solution concept 'i³-Mechatronics' promoted by Yaskawa, and to contribute toward realizing a sustainable society through the stable food supply.

The startup company Oishii based in New Jersey, manufactures and sells strawberries, and the company has succeeded in the world’s first stable mass production of strawberries, considered the finest crop with the longest cultivation cycle, using natural bee pollination. In addition, Oishii combines nature with technology to replicate elements such as rain, air, heat, sunlight and nutrition in optimal conditions for plants, enabling the delivery of fresh strawberries to consumers throughout the year. In the future, it aims to realize fully automated strawberry production.

On the other hand, one of the main strategies of Yaskawa’s new mid-term business plan, Realize 25, focuses on expanding business in the applicable field of mechatronics, and Yaskawa is intensifying initiatives to apply the factory automation expertise in the agricultural and food fields. The group company, FAMS Corporation, also develops and distributes the plant factory system called Agrine, which applies these technologies.

Under this partnership, Yaskawa will provide industrial robots and other products as well as systems for Oishii’s ongoing project to automate the entire process from sowing, raising seedlings and harvesting, to inspecting, boxing and shipping at a factory to be constructed.

A plant factory is a combination of agricultural technology and industrial technology that leads to a safe and secure supply to the consumer market, stable production by avoiding natural disasters, and the resolution of labor shortages. Through this partnership with Oishii, we will contribute to the realization of a sustainable society in the agricultural and food fields.