「ジャパンタイムズ」の4月30日号に掲載された記事を、”HortiBiz Newsletter”が、引用していた。海外からのメルマガで、「日本にもそんな会社があったんだ」と驚く例のひとつだった。社長の阿部さんは、青森出身の脱サラ元銀行マン（70歳）。
神奈川県で植物工場を経営していて、「サラダで国内シェア10％」を目指している人らしい。
「奇跡のリンゴ」の木村秋則さんといい、青森出身者には、奇跡を起こす変わり者がたくさんいる。太宰治、寺山修二、そして、「（株）グランパ」の阿部隆昭社長。青森の新聞社主催の講演会でのプロフィールによると、
阿部 隆昭（あべ・たかあき）
1943年5月17日生まれ。青森市出身。青森高校、日本大学経済学部卒業。青森銀行に入行。（欧州など海外出張を経験後に、同行退社。）2004年9月、株式会社グランパ設立。代表取締役就任。11年10月、一般社団法人・施設野菜バンク（略称・野菜BANK）設立。理事長就任。
そして、海外メディアの紹介記事は、以下のようになっている。ホームページなどを覗いてみたが、あまり更新がされていなかった。3.11後、最近の活動がよくわからない。
ただし、温室の規模は大きい。資本金も6億円とでかい。そして、植物工場だから、高齢者雇用も可能だ。陸前高田にも、大規模な温室を持っている。東日本大震災の義捐金・補助金で建てた温室なのだろう。
大手企業（日揮・IBM）と組んで、実証実験をしている。プラント建設とコンピュータ制御の実験である。
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”Japan: Granpa leads high-tech revolution farming”
A 70-year-old entrepreneur is promoting the indoor, computer-assisted cultivation of vegetables to establish a business model that can draw young people back to agriculture.
Takaaki Abe founded Granpa Co. in Yokohama in 2004 with the aim of using technology to develop a profitable indoor farming method. He was 61 at the time.
The company makes use of specially designed dome-shaped buildings to grow its produce. Each is about 30 meters across and is equipped with an automatically rotating hydroponic water tank as well as computer systems that maintain temperature and humidity at optimum levels.
Vegetables, such as lettuce seedlings, are placed in the center of the water tanks, moving outward as they grow. By the time they reach the perimeter in 30 to 50 days, they are fully grown and ready to be dispatched to retailers.
Granpa’s system is designed to minimize the need for fertilizers and other chemicals, which increases the crops’ appeal to health-conscious customers.
Abe was born in Aomori Prefecture and, unlike many of his high school friends from farming families who could not afford college, was able to enroll at a university in Tokyo, joining a local bank afterward.
There he met many farmers who were struggling make ends meet. He recalls being surprised when, on a visit to Europe and the United States as a member of an inspection team, he stumbled across profitable, large-scale farming operations.
“I wondered why agriculture in Japan was unprofitable,” Abe said. “I thought agriculture could attract many young people if a mechanism of stable earnings was established.”
It was with this goal in mind that Abe set up Granpa.
Since its founding, the company has been able to actively recruit not just young workers, but also those 50 and older because the hydroponic cultivation methods he uses do not require hard labor.
Granpa has set up its distinctively shaped plants in Kanagawa, Iwate and Fukushima, and ships a wide variety of vegetables to retailers each day.
“I would like to establish a mechanism that enables elderly farmers to pass down their experiences to younger people while contributing to the rehabilitation of agriculture in Japan,” Abe said.
12:15 – Wed 30/04/2014 Bron: The Japan Times
