Japanese carmaking giant Toyota drives into agriculture

Japanese automaker Toyota Motor will invest about 100 million yen ($830,000) in a Japanese agricultural corporation to strengthen its agricultural business.
     This will be the carmaker's first-ever investment in a farming company.
     Kajitsudo, based in Kumamoto Prefecture, in southwestern Japan, was set up in April 2005. It produces and sells baby leaves and sprouted soybeans. Kajitsudo is one of the largest baby leaf growers in Japan.
     Japanese trading house Mitsui & Co. and food processor Kagome are also investors in Kajitsudo. Toyota will become the No. 2 investor after Kagome.
     Toyota will advise the company on ways to enhance the efficiency of its operations and distribution. Kajitsudo will employ Toyota's "kaizen" system of continuous improvement to control pests as soon as they appear and to develop precise production schedules. The agricultural corporation will also study Toyota's logistics system.
     Toyota has been producing flowering plants and testing the cultivation of rice and strawberries. It has also launched a business to support agriculture through information technology.