Oishii Farm Co., Ltd. (CEO: Daiki Koga), which was founded in the United States in 2017, opened an R&D center named the "Open Innovation Center" in Tokyo's Hamura City on August 5. Agriculture, Forestry and Fisheries Minister Norikazu Suzuki and Tokyo Governor Yuriko Koike attended the opening ceremony. Oishii Farm has been growing strawberries at its plant factory and has already been selling strawberries in the United States since 2018. The company also plans to begin marketing strawberries in Japan this year. (Oishii Farm 2026/8/6)

On July 14, the Ministry of Agriculture, Forestry and Fisheries (MAFF) announced its "Agriculture, Forestry and Fisheries Research Innovation Strategy 2026," which sets out the priorities for research and development in the agriculture, forestry, and fisheries sectors. MAFF's strategy thus far has been to develop and breed new varieties in the agriculture, forestry, and fisheries sectors, including foodtech, to promote genome editing technology as a technology for accelerating breed improvement, and to invest intensively in these areas. MAFF plans to continue this strategy, but in addition MAFF also announced plans to accelerate the development of new varieties by using big breeding data and constructing a smart breeding support system using AI and other technologies. In fisheries, MAFF also announced the promotion of efficient breeding using genome editing technology as a technology for accelerating breeding improvements. Generous support will be provided to start-up enterprises for this purpose. At the same time, MAFF will promote the use of the term "accelerated breed improvement technology" rather than "genome editing" to gain consumer understanding.