Pioneer Ecoscience began selling tomatoes on September 15 (see BJ October 2021) and then placed kits for growing tomato seedlings on sale to the general public on October 11. The company has already announced the production and sale of tomato puree. This cultivation kit adds four kinds of fertilizers to four seedlings, and the selling price is high at 8250 yen.

A team of researchers at Okayama University has developed a new type of wheat using genome-editing technology to manipulate the gene for seed dormancy, thereby lengthening the dormancy period of seeds and making them less likely to germinate even when the seeds are wet. The cultivation experiment will begin in the university's testing fields in Kurashiki City from mid-November. The team has also announced, in the Journal of Plant Biotechnology (2021/8/29), the development of a barley strain that is less likely to germinate

Four companies: Regional Fish Company (see BJ October 2021), NTT DOCOMO, Okumura Gumi and Iwatani Sangyo, have launched a demonstration experiment to find the optimal method of cultivating whiteleg shrimp (Litopenaeus vannamei). In the experiment, as well as providing domestic juvenile shrimp for aquaculture, Regional Fish will also conduct experiments with a genome-edited whiteleg shrimp it is currently developing. (NTT DOCOMO 2021/10/11)

Calling for legislation to facilitate the commercialization of cultured meat, the food industry has compiled a proposal to a Liberal Democratic Party Diet alliance that is expected to be formed. The proposal was compiled by the Cell Agriculture Study Group. The study group was established by the Center for Rule-making Strategies (headed by Toshifumi Kokubun) at Tama University. In addition, the Japan Cell Agriculture Association and the Cultured Food Research Association have also been established, and activities in this field are intensifying. (Nikkei Biotech Online 2021/9/26)