Food Production in Barren Areas Using Polymer Film Farming
Mebiol Inc.
| Publication date | April 26, 2019 (Posted on May 19, 2022) |
|---|---|
| Sector | Agriculture, Forestry, Fisheries |
Company Overview
Mebiol Inc. is an R&D focused startup company founded in 1995, with the aim of utilizing hydrogel materials in the agricultural field. In Japan, the business of producing high quality tomatoes with high profitability using Imec® is well underway, and is being used in over 25 acres of land. Outside Japan, we have begun to expand into areas including the Middle East, China, Africa, and Europe. In 2016, the company received the Special Award at the "University Venture Awards - Award for Academic Startups" sponsored by Japan Science and Technology Agency (JST), and in 2018, the company received the "The President’s Award of the Japan Techno-Economics Society" from Japan Techno-Economics Society.
Climate Change Impacts
Climate change impacts can exacerbate droughts and water shortages in certain areas, which may lead to soil degradation. Conventional cultivation will become increasingly difficult and the crop quality will decline, threatening the food supply infrastructure.
Adaptation Initiatives
In our polymer Film Farming system, crops can be cultivated without soil or water by using our Imec® Film instead of soil. Imec® is an application of membrane and hydrogel technology to agriculture, which was originally developed for medical use, making it possible to grow a variety of crops including fruits and leaf vegetables on polymer films (Fig. 1). This agricultural system has the following advantages.
Imec® is an agricultural system that does not require soil, and addresses the issues of the conventional soil cultivation. Soil cultivation requires skills for soil preparation and watering, and deserted or contaminated land cannot be used. However, with our Film Farming system using Imec®, high-quality vegetables can be produced no matter how inexperienced the person is or how barren the land is.
Imec® also resolves issues of conventional hydroponics. Hydroponic cultivation is expensive due to the need to circulate the solution, add oxygen, and sterilize the plants, and it can also cause issues such as quality deterioration due to excessive watering. However, with Imec®, the nutritional value (e.g., sugar level) of vegetables becomes higher because the Film is rich in water while the surface remains dry, and the water supply can be controlled. Since the waterproof sheets prevent the runoff of the supplied water and fertilizer, the consumption of water and fertilizer can be drastically reduced compared to the conventional agricultural methods. In addition, since the crop roots only pass water and nutrients through the nano-sized pores of the film, diseases caused by pathogens and viral infections of crops can be prevented and water loss can be controlled (Fig. 2). Therefore, Imec® cultivation significantly reduces system costs compared to conventional hydroponics and makes it possible to produce high-quality crops and save water at the same time.
Effects / Expected Benefits
The Film Farming system of Imec® enables the production of highly nutritious agricultural products with less water resources regardless of soil conditions, making it less susceptible to drought and water shortages, and is expected to reduce vulnerability to climate change in terms of food production and supply infrastructure. It is also expected to create local employments and contribute to local economies, as it is not dependent on location or human skills.
Imec®, which realizes “agriculture by anyone, anywhere”, has been used in Japan to produce tomatoes on farmland severely damaged from the Great East Japan Earthquake, and has also been used around the world, including the desert of UAE and the suburbs of Shanghai, where there is a risk of soil contamination. In this way, the system is being adopted in a way that meets the needs of each region. In the Middle East, where deserts are abundant, the system is highly recognized for its ability to conserve water resources, and in China, it has been adopted to address concerns for soil and water pollution.
