DENSO Corporation (DENSO), the second largest advanced automotive technology supplier in the world, has announced its investment in Certhon Group (Certhon), operating mainly in Europe and the United States, to expand the horticulture business in the global market.
DENSO and Certhon will collaborate to develop and provide greenhouse solutions.
agricultural production system
While food demand increases as the global population continues to grow, the number of the agricultural population is decreasing due to demographic aging, unstable wages, and a strict work environment. Environmental issues caused by climate change and abnormal weather patterns have led to unstable agricultural production.
To tackle these global food-related issues, it is necessary to establish a stable and sustainable agricultural production system by saving labor reducing heavy work, and by creating a cultivation environment that is not affected by climate.
greenhouse solutions
DENSO will develop next-generation greenhouse technologies, such as fully automated indoor farming
Certhon, the company in which DENSO has invested, is a Dutch company that sells large-scale greenhouse solutions using world-class advanced technology to more than 20 countries, aiming to maximize the profit of growers.
Through this capital alliance, and combined with Certhon’s horticulture business knowledge, DENSO will develop next-generation greenhouse technologies, such as fully automated indoor farming, and sell greenhouse package solutions tailored to the diverse needs of countries across the world.
Long-term Policy 2030
DENSO Group’s Long-term Policy 2030 launched in 2017 has identified non-automotive business as one of its four focus areas and has defined agriculture as a key pillar under the non-automotive field.
DENSO has contributed to the improvement of productivity in the agricultural field and the stabilization of cultivation environments through climate control technologies.
automatic harvesting robot
As part of that, AgriD, Inc., established in 2018 with Asai Nursery, Inc., has built one of the largest greenhouses in Japan to realize greenhouse operations 24/7 through cooperation between farmers and robots to reduce the amount of work. Moreover, DENSO has started the demonstration of the automatic harvesting robot “FARO” developed by DENSO.
In the future, DENSO will contribute to sustainable agricultural production through industrialization and will provide new value to the agri-food sector by establishing an integrated food value chain business.
