Menicon Co., Ltd. (Head office: 3-21-19 Aoi, Naka-ku, Nagoya; President and CEO: Hidenari Tanaka) enters its 11th year of aiding preservation of the Japanese Crested Ibis and its habitat this year. Since 2011, Menicon has provided aid in numerous ways, which include donating portions of the proceeds from the sales of the Agri Revolution series of rice straw decomposition accelerators to the Niigata Prefecture Japanese Crested Ibis Conservation Fund and Sado City Toki Habitat Preservation Fund. Menicon also added the Japanese Crested Ibis Preservation Fund to the list of Shareholder Benefit Programs as of fiscal 2018 in an effort to elevate the Japanese Crested Ibis preservation efforts and promote greater understanding of Menicon’s environmental biotechnology business, a new line of business.
A Japanese Crested Ibis takes flight. An estimated 451 Japanese Crested Ibises in total nest on Sado Island, Niigata Prefecture (as of June 28, 2021).
The Agri Revolution series that is offered in Japan is a lineup of environmentally friendly bio-agents. Menicon brought the technology and knowhow that it cultivated in the area of contact lenses to apply to its environmental business and developed these agents that use the power of enzymes to decompose the rice stalks that remain in paddies after harvesting, thereby reducing outgassing and the floating straw that lead to lower rice yields and more greenhouse gases. Rice farmers in Sado City, Niigata Prefecture, widely spread Agri Revolution before the winter flooding of rice fields and accelerate decomposition of rice straw to promote an environment that is favourable to the nesting of Japanese Crested Ibises.
Menicon pledges to continue developing environmentally friendly products and aiding the growth of an ecosystem that enables co-existence with the Japanese Crested Ibises.
■ To learn about Menicon’s other environmental initiatives, go here
https://www.menicon.com/corporate/aboutus/sdg/environment