June 30, 2022

By Lynda Kiernan-Stone, Global AgInvesting Media

Two Japanese giants, Mitsubishi Corporation (MC) and Maruha Nichiro, announced their agreement to establish ATLAND Corporation (ATLAND) – a joint venture that will specialize in the land-based production of salmon. 

In the planning stage since March 2021, this project will be centered in Nyuzen, in the Toyama Prefecture, beginning around October 2022.

Under the terms of the venture, MC will hold a 51 percent stake in ATLAND, and Maruha Nichiro will control the remaining 49 percent. Once the company is fully established, a land-based salmon farm with a capacity of 2.500 tons will be built in Nyuzen, with operations forecast to begin in 2025, and an initial delivery to be completed in 2027.

The key goal of both parties is to leverage their strengths and businesses to develop a sustainable and stable land-based production system for local consumption and advancement toward decarbonization, while also generating economic, environmental, and social value.

Due to the need for year-round low seawater temperatures, mild weather, and wave activity, there are not many suitable locations for conventional salmon aquaculture – constraining the majority of the farmed salmon industry to Norway and Chile. However, projections are that global demand for high-quality animal protein will continue to increase – leading MC and Maruha Nichiro to join forces to meet that need through a local-production-for-local-consumption business model that is expected to produce less greenhouse gas emissions compared to importing fresh salmon from traditional salmon farming countries.

Additional external pressures are also in play that make the domestic supply of salmon in Japan a savvy move.

The Russian invasion of Ukraine has led Japan to forgo talks with Moscow this year regarding salmon fishing by Japanese ships in the 200-nautical-mile zone around Russia this year. Mutual relations between the two countries have broken down as a result of the war in Ukraine, with Russia adding Japan to its list of “unfriendly countries” and Japan harboring concerns that its fishing boats would be possibly seized in Russian waters, even if negotiations were successful. 

MC and Maruha Nichiro are not the only companies in Japan taking notice of the opportunities presented by a likely salmon supply gap in the country. In April of this year, Marubeni and Proximar announced their own exclusive sales and distribution agreement under which Marubeni would be the exclusive distributor in Japan for all Atlantic salmon produced at the Recirculating Aquaculture System (RAS) aquaculture facility currently being constructed by Proximar in Japan’s Shizuoka Prefecture, and which also is expected to be at full capacity in 2027. 

Like Proximar’s site, the ATLAND project also will employ RAS, which is highly compatible with using advanced water treatment technologies to control and manage the growing environment. By leveraging AI and IoT to stabilize production, the venture will be able to optimize its own farming operations.

The ATLAND facility will also use groundwater from the Kurobe River together with deep seawater sourced from the Toyama Bay, which is known for its cleanliness and low, stable temperature. This is not only so critical to salmon success, but also means the operation will require less energy to create a suitable water environment for land-based production.

~ Lynda Kiernan-Stone is editor with GAI Media, and is managing editor and daily contributor for Global AgInvesting’s AgInvesting Weekly News and  Agtech Intel News, as well as HighQuest Group’s Unconventional Ag. She can be reached at lkiernan-stone@globalaginvesting.com.

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