A production volume of Japan hops that harvest mainly in TOHOKU area in Japan and key raw material for beer production have been decreasing due to aging of farmers and few successors for hop farming. To maintain hop production, successors and/or new hop farmers are necessary. However, it is quite difficult to invite new hop farmers to that area and make hop farmers’ successors because an attractiveness of hop farming is not interested in Japan. This situation also has a negative impact on economy and development of that area.

We have addressed issues on hop production in TOHOKU area for long term. In 2007, we launched TK project with local government, TONO city, IWATE prefecture to maintain hop production and revitalize the local community. Since that, we and the local government have worked for a lot of project below.
For example,
- Re-build Japan hops value by using the hops for our beer and other craft brewery in Japan
- Educate craft brewers about Japan hops and how to use it to expand craft beers made with Japan hops through seminars and events by us
- Implement beer festival in that city and beer and hops tourism to invite many people who do not know the city and Japan hop
- Support to launch an agriculture corporation; Beer Experience to make a sustainable production of hops
- Implement an educational program for elementary, middle and high school students to let them know regarding hops and have a sense of proud of local business and culture
- Find bio-diversity at hop farming are

Key partnership and stakeholder are the local government. we make a hop committee with the local government to carry out many initiatives for community revitalization and Japan hops production. The key feature of success is that local government and local community have a high motivation and proud for what they do and have done.

 10 new young farmers from inside and outside of IWATE prefecture have joined in hop farming
 Since 2015, A beer festival has been done there and 7,500 people enjoyed the hop festival in 2018
 Many craft brewers have used Japan hops for making kind of special beer; 12 brewers in 2016, 21 brewers in 2017 and 29 brewers in 2018
 New enterprise, such as craft brewer, joined there to vitalize the community

Collaborations among the local government and our collaborations and some incentives from Japan government

We have a plan to extend those initiatives into other area where have same issue such as aging farmers and shrinking local economy. In fact, we started some project with an area of wine grape farming and also other hop farming region.

Sharing common view of the issues on hop farming and local economy, making the empathetic goal together, building the plan to generate social and economic value for sustainable activity, getting some investment from the local, us and the government to accelerate the plan, and having the leaders who have a passion to the initiative in local community. Those were key factors to make this initiative happen.

 Our commitment for this initiative; commitment 2.1, Contributing to community vitalization. https://www.kirinholdings.co.jp/english/csv/commitment/index.html#sect03
 Bio-diversity at hop farm; Page 24 and page 28. https://www.kirinholdings.co.jp/english/csv/report/env/pdf/environmental2018e.pdf
 A news media; Jiji press; http://jp-gate.com/u/business/rt3wzhwo77oozi