Research & Development

R&D organizations supporting
sustainable agriculture in various fields

Requests to the current agriculture is extensive and countless; such as labor-saving farming, stable harvesting and improved product yield and quality under global warming. Higher level of technologies are required more than ever to develop and use agricultural materials.

We provide total solutions for sustainable agriculture through our R&D and our diverse product lineup including irrigation materials, environmental control system of greenhouse, seeds and seedlings, seed priming and coating, nursery soil, fertilizers and biostimulants.

With our expertise and knowledge accumulated through our business for many years, we keep moving forward to unravel the mechanisms behind irrigation performance, quality of coated seeds, seed germination and agronomic traits in scientific fields including chemical and mechanical engineering, plant breeding, plant pathology, plant physiology, plant nutrition and soil science.

Such R&D initiative based on our mission as a total solution provider facilitate the continuous evolution of our platform technologies.

We develop high value technologies and products targeting the global market in close cooperation with our sales teams of domestic and overseas.

Market oriented R&D stream

Our researchers frequently visit our customers with sales persons to see how the customers use our products on site, and to know what customers need from us. Such direct involvement and feedback is important for us.

Strengthening R&D collaboration with various partners

Stable and efficient commercial production is also quite important for development of new products. Involvement of the manufacturing team at early stage is another important key for our successive commercial production.

We also have various collaboration partners outside of the company. They are not only academia but also global affiliates of Sumitomo Chemical, seed companies, farms, and other industries, such as machinery makers, control equipment makers and ICT companies.

R&D organization

Oyama Seed Laboratory

We research and develop our products related to seed technology.

Sapporo Experimental Farm

Taking advantage of a cool and dry climate in Hokkaido, our Sapporo Experimental Farm develops new varieties of vegetables and flowers suitable for cool and highland areas. This farm also has a function to evaluate nursery soils and related materials, fertilizers for highland crops.

Chiba Experimental Farm

We develop new varieties of vegetables suitable for mild climate in Chiba Experimental Farm as new breeding base of vegetables. Breeder seeds of our vegetables are also propagated on the farm. The farm has a function to evaluate and develop our soil products, fertilizers for temperate crops.

Kumamoto Experimental Farm

In Kumamoto Experimental Farm, we conduct various field tests for vegetables and flowers for warm and lowland crops. A warm climate in Kyushu is suitable for development of such new varieties and seed propagation. The farm also has the function to evaluate and develop watering and environment control systems in greenhouses for lowland crops. We are also pursuing advanced technologies to speed up and improve the efficiency of breeding by utilizing tissue culture technology and analysis technology. We are also working on the development of new varieties with useful traits by utilizing DNA markers and genomic information of vegetables.

Department of Production Technology
（in Ehime Works of Sumitomo Chemical Co. Ltd.）

The function of our Department of Production Technology is to establish a commercial scale production of seed coating, irrigation tubes and irrigation-related materials. The department also assist our sales team by responding to requests and issues from customers on our coated seeds and irrigation materials.