Where should I set up my wasabi Farm?
Should it be in town where it is easy to get to for equipment and services, or should it be in the country where we are likely to get fewer interruptions?
Both of these locations have their pros and cons.
The one in town is likely to be close to where you live, and also close to a commercial area where you are able to get equipment and services as required. It is also likely to attract the time wasters who are interested (just nosy really) in what you’re doing and will talk you to death given the chance. You may also be close to your market, especially if you have decided to provide fresh wasabi to the shops and supermarkets in the town. The cost of land close to or even in the town is likely to be significantly more expensive than further out into the country.
Setting up your wasabi plant in the country, while being a bit more difficult to get to especially if there is a problem late at night might make you feel a bit more secure in that fewer people will be about to interfere with the wasabi farm.
If you have decided that you want to use fresh wasabi as your product, then you need to ensure that you are central to all your major markets as transport costs continue to rise. To begin with you will probably be the one running all over the countryside to deliver your fresh wasabi to your customers. For this reason you’ll need to be within 100 kilometres (60 miles) of those customers otherwise you will end up driving all day, and getting nothing done at the wasabi farm.
Shipping the fresh wasabi around the countryside using various courier services is likely to be unsatisfactory in the long run as they take you for granted. The further the fresh wasabi travels the more likely it is to be damaged and unusable by the customer. The shipping costs coupled with the packaging requirements for shipping fresh wasabi around the country is expensive and is not likely to get any cheaper in the foreseeable future.
For any type of wasabi farm the land location is important. You must be able to get to that land location quickly if there is an equipment failure or other emergency. From experience these emergencies all seem to happen at night, so you don’t want to drive for a couple of hours to get there, and you need to service your customers easily as well.