TOWING Co., Ltd.

TOWING is an agri-tech startup from Nagoya, Aichi Prefecture, Japan which develops and sells "Soratan," a high-performance biochar.

Soratan enables soil preparation that typically takes 3 to 5 years in fields to be completed in just about 1 month. TOWING's unique "High-Performance Soil Technology" for soil development is a microorganism culture technology created by adding microorganisms to biochar (porous material) such as plant charcoal, mixed with organic fertilizer, and managed under appropriate conditions. TOWING's proprietary technologies related to biochar pretreatment and microbial cultivation are combined with technologies developed by the National Agriculture and Food Research Organization (NARO) for practical use. When applied wilth Soratan, it is possible to reduce CO2 emissions by approximately 1 ton 10 a (per rice paddy case). By using Soratan instead of arctic spraying at the time of switching cropping, the farmland can be converted to high-quality farmland in about one month. The following benefits can be obtained by installing Soratan. - Reduction of chemical fertilizers (e.g., 50% reduction in Japanese spinach) - Reduction of frequency of compost application (from annually to once every 3 years) - Improvement in land utilization rate (mitigation of continuous crop failure → 1.5 times higher than before) - Increase in added value and sales through environmental contributions - Proxy acquisition and sale of carbon credits based on the amount of Soratan applied, and partial return of profits from the sale of the carbon credits