The company aims to select suitable locations within Shikoku by the end of the fiscal year and hopes to establish three operational sites by 2030, targeting annual sales of ¥100 million ($700,000).
Japan’s Shikoku Railway Company announced on July 30 that it will begin a trial salmon farming project in Kumamoto Prefecture starting in August.
The company aims to gather expertise with the assistance of local businesses and eventually commercialize the venture in Shikoku. This marks JR Shikoku’s first foray into the primary industry sector.
The Shikoku Railway Company (四国旅客鉄道株式会社, Shikoku Ryokaku Tetsudō Kabushiki-gaisha), commonly known as JR Shikoku (JR四国, Jei-āru Shikoku), is the smallest of the seven constituent companies of the Japan Railways Group (JR Group).
The company, which has been expanding its non-railway businesses such as hotels and real estate, identified salmon farming as a viable opportunity while looking into the idea of shrimp farming.
The focus is on a cost-effective freshwater farming system developed by Hirayama Co. in Yatsushiro City, Kumamoto Prefecture, which utilizes groundwater flow-through tanks.
JR Shikoku will install six tanks on its premises to rear king salmon juveniles starting in late August, with plans to ship the fish by the end of December. The company aims to select suitable locations within Shikoku by the end of the fiscal year and hopes to establish three operational sites by 2030, targeting annual sales of ¥100 million ($700,000).
Suitable locations will have abundant water resources, with the potential for branding such as “Niyodo River Salmon” in Kochi, highlighting the area’s clean streams. President Kazuyuki Shinomura expressed his ambition to nurture this new growth opportunity during a press conference.
