TOKYO - More companies are entering the coffee farming business to capitalize on a surge in coffee bean prices as prolonged drought and heatwaves due to climate change are expected to continue to reduce global coffee production.
Coffee plants are sensitive and usually grow in equatorial regions. But they can be cultivated in greenhouses under controlled conditions that meet their climatic requirements.
Nichibei United Corp., an Osaka-based energy trading company, has planted over 1,100 Typica coffee trees in eight greenhouses since it began coffee farming as a new business in 2024 in Soja, Okayama Prefecture.
It was not easy for a company from a different industry to start cultivating coffee, admits Kenji Tsujino, who oversees the coffee business's on-site operations.
"Agriculture is tough. We have faced a series of unexpected events," said Tsujino, who had worked for the trading company's petroleum-based detergent business before being transferred to coffee operations.
Such events included the flooding of the greenhouses by rain in the first year, which required the company to replant trees after installing underground drainage pipes.
Costs have also mounted for shade nets for summer and heaters for winter to maintain temperatures inside the greenhouses between 18 C and 24 C.
The Typica coffee tree is considered difficult to grow, but the company plans to market the beans in the future as ultra-premium coffee produced entirely in Japan.
Ishizuka Glass Co. in Aichi Prefecture also started coffee farming in the spring of 2025, growing about 10 different types of coffee beans under a three-year cultivation trial.
The company uses waste heat of around 300 C from the glass melting process at its glass plant to produce hot water for greenhouse heating.
"We are still fumbling every day. But we dream of the day when we can deliver our coffee grown with heat from our plant throughout Japan," said Takaaki Niizuma, in charge of the project.
Yamako Farm Co., Japan's largest coffee seedling supplier, sold 10,000 seedlings to around 60 businesses for 50,000 yen ($312) each.
The company receives several hundred inquiries when it participates in business fairs.
But "we need an investment of over 100 million yen to make our business profitable," Kosuke Yamamoto, the president of the company, said. "Unfortunately, we often have to turn down orders."
