Sakata Seed Corporation President and CEO Hiroshi Sakata

Our goal is to achieve the top share in seed sales in Japan and expand globally overseas

President and CEO of Sakata Seed Corporation　Hiroshi Sakata　(Hiroshi Sakata)

■ Profile

He graduated from Keio University in 1974 and joined Dai-Ichi Kangyo Bank (now Mizuho Bank). He studied agriculture and horticulture and seeds at the University of California, Davis, and joined Sakata Seed Co., Ltd. (now Sakata Seed Corporation) in 1981. After gaining experience in domestic sales, he served as general manager of the Dutch subsidiary, head of the president's office, head of the public relations and advertising department, head of the corporate planning department, and managing director and general manager of the management headquarters, before becoming president and representative director in 2007.

Sakata Seed is Japan's largest seed manufacturer, with a long history dating back 110 years since its founding. Aiming to be the most popular among professional farmers, the company is constantly developing new varieties. Currently, it has research and development centers in 12 countries and operates in 23 countries around the world. We spoke with Sakata Hiroshi, the company's president and CEO.

During my student days, I focused not only on my studies but also on tennis club activities. I remember joining a seminar in my third and fourth years and being very active. At the time, Japan was experiencing rapid economic growth, and as I was studying economics, I had a strong interest in business. Wanting to see a broader picture of society, I applied to an industry where I could be involved in a variety of business sectors and learn a lot, and so I joined Dai-Ichi Kangyo Bank (now Mizuho Bank).
Although my grandfather was the founder of our company and my father was also president, I wasn't really aware of the seed industry at the time, but when I learned about the seed industry and its future potential while working in the financial industry, I felt it was an interesting industry and decided to join Sakata Seed Co. However, I had no knowledge of agriculture or horticulture, so I studied abroad at the University of California, Davis for two years, where I studied English and acquired basic agricultural knowledge.
After joining the company, I experienced a wide range of departments, including farming, domestic sales, overseas sales, setting up a European branch, and administration. That experience has been useful even since I became president. There were many difficult things, but I rarely felt that it was a struggle.

■ Leveraging our 110-year history to meet your needs

Our company conducts research and development of flower and vegetable varieties. We are currently developing "F1" varieties, which are offspring varieties that have fixed varieties with genetically different traits as parents. Developing new varieties is extremely challenging, as it involves creating something that does not exist in the world. For example, even just with tomatoes, we have more than 20 varieties that we sell domestically.
Approximately 90% of our seed sales are to growers. We wholesale to seed stores, which then sell them to professional growers. Professional growers are agricultural professionals. They only use the best products. We are always striving for originality so that our varieties will be chosen.
The DNA of originality, passed down through our 110-year history, is what sets us apart from other companies. It takes 10 to 15 years to perfect a single variety, and we develop them by anticipating the needs of the distribution process and consumers. We sow seeds every year, select from them those that meet those needs, and crossbreed them. By continuing to crossbreed, we create parent varieties with the desired traits. We spend a long time creating parents to use in crossbreeding, and by crossbreeding them, we can create varieties with good traits through the mechanism of hybrid vigor. All other test varieties are discarded. Although 9% of them are discarded, it is important to keep only the best ones and discard the rest with dignity.

■ To create food seeds that can spread across the world

Sakata Seed has research bases in 12 countries around the world. The reason for establishing research bases in each country is the need to meet the needs of the world's food and horticultural cultures. We have 14 research bases overseas, and each base develops different types of vegetables and flowers.
Since the environment differs from country to country, it is important to select crops that are suited to the climate of the base. The soil and cultivation methods are different depending on the country and region, and everything is different. For example, in the United States, the climate and soil vary greatly even just depending on the general location, such as the West Coast, Midwest, or East Coast. This is similar in Japan. Varieties are developed taking these differences in climate and soil into account.
In addition, in order to take seeds produced in Japan overseas, plant quarantine hurdles must be overcome.
I tell the employees I work with at Sakata Seed to be passionate, proactive, and positive in everything they do. Also, since we have many overseas bases, I want them to have a global mindset.
We are always trying new things both at home and abroad, so I hope you will never forget your spirit of challenge. In the vegetable and flower category, there are some items for which our company has not yet achieved the top market share, so I would like to challenge ourselves together both at home and abroad with the aim of becoming the number one in those markets.

■Message to university students

Compared to working adults, students have more free time than they do in school. I hope you will use that time to broaden your horizons. I also hope you will find something you can focus on. Another thing I would like students to do is take the opportunity to look at Japan from the outside. If you stay in Japan alone, it can be difficult to objectively compare yourself with those around you. That's why I would like you to see Japan from a global perspective. Also, we live in an age where information is much easier to obtain than in the past. It's important to train yourself on a daily basis so that you can organize a wide variety of vast amounts of information.

Interviewed by Student Newspaper Online on December 13, 2023 by Shion Teranishi, a first-year student at Kokugakuin University