Technological Innovation in Japanese Agriculture

Progress and Prospect

Abstract

From 1960 to 2015, compared with other countries, the rates of the annual increase of Japanese rice, wheat, barley and soybean yields were low. Especially after 2000, the yield level of barley and soybean has declined. Stagnation of land productivity for these crops is a serious problem in Japanese paddy farming. Farmers’ behaviors which secure the quality more than quantity of crop production suppressed the increase of crop yield level. Moisture damage to upland crops impeded the growth rate. In addition, long-term land conversion between paddy and upland reduced the fertility of soil in paddy fields, and it caused the reduction of yield for soybean production. These factors were already pointed out before 2000, but drastic measures weren’t tackled. On the other hand, Japanese society is now facing a decline in the birthrate and an aging population, and the amount of agricultural labor will decrease more drastically in the future. Therefore, the rapid and large expansion of core farmers’ farmland is forecasted. In these circumstances, new farming technologies which utilize Information and Communication Technology, Robot Technology and Artificial Intelligence, so-called “smart agriculture” are expected to intensify farming management. In particular, the automatization of farm work by robot tractors and the development of a farming support system by collecting and analyzing the big data which relate to cultivation managements and operations are expected to save farm labor and to improve the crop yield and quality. However, smart agricultural technologies themselves do not convert the cultivation technology and cropping system. Since the establishment of a middle-size mechanized rice cultivation system in the 1970s, the basic structure of the rice cultivation system has not changed. Therefore, for the improvement of land productivity and development in paddy farming, it is necessary to construct a new crop cultivation technology and farming system with the utilization of smart agricultural technologies.