Saint-Gobain Cultilene's 45th anniversary is an important milestone for the company. Reflecting on this journey is their distributor Inochio, a company with its own rich history. Founded in 1909 in Japan as a pharmacy, Inochio has specialized in greenhouse horticulture since the 1970s. Inochio Vice President Nobuo Ishiguro discusses their collaboration with Cultilene.
Rihei Ishiguro's words, "Our lives should be dedicated to serving others and the world," are still core business values at Inochio today – an apt name, since 'inochi' means 'life' in Japanese. As a major player in Japanese greenhouse horticulture, Inochio helps businesses become more efficient, sustainable, and innovative, with the aim of fostering growth in the sector.
Since 2009, Nobuo Ishiguro has been the fourth generation leading the family business. He describes Inochio's contribution to strengthening the Japanese agricultural sector: "Inochio consists of seventeen holding companies, with a total of fifty sites in Japan. They also have a branch in the Netherlands, where they breed chrysanthemums and Celosia. Through their holding companies, they support Japanese growers with a range of services including greenhouse construction, setting up advanced cultivation systems, and management support."
© CultileneNobuo Ishiguro
Doing business directly
Key to supporting Japanese growers is working with the right partners, a search that led Inochio to Cultilene in 2008. "When our Japanese stone wool producer stopped trading that year, we needed an alternative supplier. At that time, there weren't any in Japan because most growers were growing plants in soil inside of the greenhouse," Nobuo explains. "My brother was living in the Netherlands at the time, so he came into contact with Dutch stone wool manufacturers."
After various discussions, Inochio decided to partner with Cultilene. Nobuo explains why this decision was their preferred choice: "We could do business with Cultilene directly without involving anyone else. This was a big plus for us. The fact that Cultilene had strong technical expertise and offered on-site support was also extremely valuable."
Yields doubled
The companies have had close ties for seventeen years now. How does Inochio view this partnership? "We are very happy with Cultilene as a partner," says Nobuo. "Besides providing high quality substrates, they have in-depth cultivation knowledge which helps us and our customers optimise growing processes. Yields have increased substantially since we started working together; some growers have even managed to double their yields, we're delighted to say."
Regular visits are an important part of this partnership. Nobuo continues: "Klaasjan Lautenbach (Manager Sales Asia) and Remy Maat (Manager Application) come to Japan regularly, and we also travel to the Netherlands, where we drop in on some of the best growers. It is truly impressive to see the greenhouses. We take the insights we gather back with us to Japan." The partners also get to spend time together outside of work. Nobuo: "Once we went to a Dutch national football team match – I have very fond memories of that."
© Cultilene
Keeping pace with change
The continuous exchange of knowledge is valuable to Inochio as Japanese horticulture continues to evolve. Nobuo explains the changes he is seeing: "For a start, in recent years many growers have switched from growing in soil to using stone wool. The types of greenhouses are also changing: there is a move away from the traditional low Japanese greenhouses to taller ones like those you see in the Netherlands. Growers are also increasingly using advanced growing support systems."
The scale of growing operations is also changing. "Up until a few years ago, the sector was dominated by small-scale family businesses," Nobuo says. "With the younger generations and investors entering the market, businesses are becoming larger and more professional. This brings with it new demands around sustainability and efficient water usage, for example. Meeting these demands is an exciting challenge for us."
For Inochio, adapting to these changes means being fit for the future – the central theme of Cultilene's 45th anniversary. How do they do that? Nobuo: "We are constantly innovating. Currently there are many exciting developments happening, such as harvest robots, which could significantly mitigate the growing shortage of skilled labour in Japan. The use of renewable energy such as biomass energy and groundwater thermal energy as a sustainable energy source is also promising. The Japanese government is aiming to reduce CO2 emissions in the sector to zero by 2050, so we are closely monitoring these trends."
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