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Sharp (6753:JP) made its name building televisions. But the company actually has its origins in mechanical pencils, and its future may rest on its ability to grow Japanese strawberries in the deserts of Dubai.

Screen Shot 2013-09-19 at 5.12.16 PMThe company recently released a statement saying that it will begin ramping up an agricultural operation in Dubai that it quietly started in July. Sharp argues that this makes sense because Japanese strawberries are popular in the Middle East, they’re expensive, and they’re quick to spoil. So it’s common sense to grow the fruit near where you plan on selling it.

On the other hand, this doesn’t make any sense: Neither flatscreens nor writing implements have all that much overlap with berry farming.

 

Or maybe it does make a certain sense. As a consumer electronics company, Sharp is dying. Its business is increasingly made up of selling electronic components such as LCD displays and solar cells. This part of its business made up 46 percent of revenue in the fiscal year ended in March, up from about a third three years earlier. The relative growth in electronic components isn’t just because Sharp’s sales of consumer products are tanking—although they are. Sales are at record highs in every category of Sharp’s electronic-component business, and making strawberries is another way to continue that growth.

While Sharp didn’t respond to a request to discuss its thinking, it seems clear that the strawberry operation in the Persian Gulf is to peddle more components. The strawberry facility is a hermetically sealed building stocked with Sharp’s own equipment. To control lighting, Sharp is using its LED technology. The company is also using something called Plasmacluster to kill germs, bacteria, mold—the same technology used in consumer products, as shown in this video of a Sharp air purifier reducing mold in bread. There’s additional technology to monitor room temperature and humidity, and Sharp says it will collect data on how well its cultivation techniques work to “achieve stable production of high-quality strawberries.”

Once it has figured out the key to growing the perfect berry, Sharp says it will launch a plant-engineering business in cooperation with local partners. Sharp will focus on factory design, technology to monitor growing conditions, and maintenance services.

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