News article
Tea fields shrinking despite matcha boom; new corporate-farmer partnerships emerging
Japanese tea exports reached 721 billion yen last year, with powdered tea accounting for roughly 80%, yet demand for leaf tea brewed in teapots has fallen. Tea processors closed or dissolved 13 times last year—a record—while farmers continue to decline. Switching to tencha production is difficult: it requires heavy capital investment in equipment, labor-intensive shading work, and Shizuoka's dominant Yabukita cultivar produces lower-quality tencha than other varieties. Blue F…
抹茶ブームの裏で減る茶畑 企業と農家をつなぐ新たな取り組み - tbsradio.jp
Key points
- Tea-leaf demand declining despite 721 billion yen matcha export record; powder tea now ~80% of exports
- 13 tea-processing businesses dissolved last year (record); farms down to one-sixth of numbers 30 years ago
- Tencha conversion blocked by capital costs, labor shortage, and unsuitable Yabukita cultivar in Shizuoka
- Blue Farm's ChaaS model: ~50 companies contract to buy branded tea, funding management of 10 hectares of abandoned field…
- Direct farmer-corporate ties emerging—employees visit fields, experience harvest, building trust for long-term successio…
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About this article
The numbers
Tea exports (last year): ¥72.1 billion
Powder tea share of exports: ~80%
Tea processor closures/dissolutions (last year): 13 cases
Tea-selling farms (Shizuoka), ratio to 30 years ago: 6分の1以下
What they said
“Easily converting existing sencha production to tencha faces significant difficulty.”
簡単に既存の煎茶の生産をてん茶に転換するっていうことは、難しさがあるっていうところになります。
“The major turning point came when we decided: we will become farmers ourselves.”
「もう僕たちが農家やります」というのが大きな転換点になっていて。
“It becomes an opportunity for long-time producers to feel that their fields are generating new value.”
「この畑が新しい価値を生んでいる」と実感する機会になっているそうです。
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