Smart Agriculture PDF - Technology in Farming

Smart Agriculture **Overview** 1 » The term "smart agriculture" refers to any type of farming that uses technology such as sensors, location systems, and robots.　These elements are connected and exchange data.　Together, they collect and analyze data about crops or animals, make decisions, and ev...

Smart Agriculture **Overview** 1 » The term "smart agriculture" refers to any type of farming that uses technology such as sensors, location systems, and robots.　These elements are connected and exchange data.　Together, they collect and analyze data about crops or animals, make decisions, and even take action such as adding water or fertilizer.　The advantages of smart agriculture are clear: quick response and high precision, and significant savings in water, energy, fertilizers, and labor time.　According to one company involved in smart agriculture, farms have been able to save up to 85% in water, and 50% in energy costs while using less fertilizer.　Crop yields of up to 40% higher are often achieved.　The relatively low cost of digital technology provides an attractive opportunity for increasing food production in Japan in a way that is sustainable and does not damage the environment. **The Growing Agricultural Challenge** 2 » According to the United Nations, the world's population is expected to reach 9.7 billion by 2050.　In order to meet the increased demand for food, global food production needs to increase 1.7 times from the 2010 level by 2050.　At the same time, agriculture in Japan is facing several threats in the form of a decline in agricultural population and farmland area, and climate change. - Agriculture in Japan has traditionally relied on skilled workers.　Today, however, the average farmer is over 65 years of age.　On top of this, the total number of farmers is decreasing.　As a result, a large amount of farmland has become abandoned in recent years.　With a declining population overall, securing human resources in Japan is seen as a major challenge. - Unpredictable weather such as extreme heat or rainfall is a major risk to traditional agriculture.　Such weather can lead to crop production becoming unstable.　It is important to minimize the risk of crop failure and improve crop quality regardless of weather.　This can help to increase self-sufficiency and provide more stable income for farmers. **Meeting the Challenge: The Young Generation and Technology** 3 » Three case studies summarized below show how high school students are working with smart agriculture technology to achieve higher quality production with minimal labor. Study 1: Rice farming and greenhouse control using advanced technology 4 » Students at Koyo High School in Okayama are working on a large-scale project in rice paddy cultivation.　They're using tractors equipped with Global Positioning System (GPS), unmanned rice planters, and drones.　They are also working on the development of an environment-controlled greenhouse that can be remotely managed and monitored for growing crops using sensors for temperature, moisture content, etc. Study 2: Development of a low-cost agricultural assistance cart 5 » Students at Hokkaido Asahikawa Agricultural High School have invented a low-cost cart to help elderly farmers.　In the students' survey, about 80% of the mostly senior farmers indicated that hard physical work was a problem.　These farmers also found it difficult to introduce new machines due to costs.　The students developed a cheap, easy-to-use, automatic cart that can carry heavy loads.　Farmers can use it to transport tools or crops and reduce their burden.　The design enables it to carry about 100 kilograms of cargo. Study 3: A willingness to learn smart agriculture 6 » Students at Hyogo Prefectural Agricultural High School are also learning to utilize advanced agricultural technology.　With a drone, a tractor using GPS, and the latest model rice planters, the students are analyzing the condition of fertilizer based on aerial images of paddy fields.　The images show fertilizer distribution.　This allows students to see if the fertilizer is sufficiently distributed to the rice, and to know when and how much fertilizer to add. **Saving Agriculture = Saving Our Lives** 7 » Japan's domestic food self-sufficiency rate was 73% in 1965, but had declined to only 38% as of 2019.　Japan now depends on other countries for much of its food supply.　Adapting new technological innovations for use in agriculture, and helping farmers put them to use, will be a big challenge for the next generation.　Meeting it will require the help of farmers, scientists, government, businesses, and investors.