An Overview of Efforts for Smart Agriculture to Social Implementation

(Smart Technologies for Water Management and Paddy Rice Transplanting)

Abstract

The advent of smart agriculture in Japan has resulted in significant labor productivity gains and increases in the quality of agricultural products through the active use of knowledge and techniques from a variety of fields, including ICT and robotics. ICT has been introduced to reduce the labor of water management, and at the same time achieve high quality cultivation. Several water management systems with ICT have already been commercialized and are in widespread use. In addition, we have nearly completed development of an autopilot transplanter, which will be made available commercially in the near future through technological transfer to agricultural machinery makers and has the following features: (1) rice planting, normally carried out by two persons, can be performed by one person feeding seedlings; (2) rice planting is automated except for the perimeter of fields; (3) paths need not be pre-programed; and (4) even compared to skilled operators, planting becomes more accurate with its high-speed turning and operation abilities.