Amino Up's founder and chairman, Mr Kenichi Kosuna, smiling during the interview. (©JAPAN Forward by Mika Sugiura)
Read the full story on Japan 2 Earth - Biotech Company Amino Up: Improving Agriculture and Health Around the World
Amino Up is a unique biotechnology company founded forty years ago in Hokkaido. It began with a former student activist who began researching ways to create richer lives for farmers and discovered a substance that promotes crop growth. The company expanded into functional health foods and has built a network with over 100 research institutions worldwide. Japan 2 Earth spoke with Amino Up's founder and chairman, Kenichi Kosuna, about the company's outlook.
Starting from Prefab
About a 10-minute drive from the nearest subway station, Amino Up's headquarters is located in a lush, tree-lined hilly area on the outskirts of Sapporo. The company now has about 100 employees. But when Kenichi Kosuda started it in a nearby small town called Tobetsu, he was the sole employee in a prefab building.
After dropping out of Rakuno Gakuen University, Kosuna opened an agricultural consultancy in 1977. Seven years later, he established the Institute of Hokkaido Fodder and began making feed for dairy and cattle farms using microorganisms.
"Even though Hokkaido was a leader in dairy and livestock farming, 75% of feed was coming from imports. We were trying to ferment bamboo and other grasses that grow along the roadside to make feed for cows," Kosuna reported.
About a year later, through trial and error, he noticed something. The grass where the culture solution used in experiments was discarded was growing really well.
"There were more blades, and it was growing differently than other grassy areas. My research developed out of curiosity about this," Kosuna said.
Continue reading the full story on Japan 2 Earth to read more about how the rise of wind power impacts wildlife and people in Northern Hokkaido.
And find more great articles on the environment and the challenges of achieving the SDGs on our affiliated website Japan 2 Earth (J2E), sparking a transition to a sustainable future.
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(Read the article in Japanese.)
Author: Mika Sugiura
