The aim of this study was to identify the characteristics and use of expert know-how in agricultural planning on large-scale paddy field farms and to develop guidelines for cultivating employees’ capabilities in corporate farms. This case study was conducted on a corporate farm in Shiga Prefecture. The results indicate that a high level of knowledge and a variety of technical skills are required for agricultural planning. These skills include the ability to manage the knowledge, both general and technical, required to conduct agricultural operations and flexibly deploy knowledge and skills under a variety of circumstances. Furthermore, we found that the skills were primarily based on two types of intellectual management skills that can be broadly categorized as either decided type or predicted type depending on the nature of the decision made. In addition, decision-making requires the technical ability to make use of comprehensive sets of factors relating to knowledge, skills, and data. We also observed a low acquisition rate of management skills in terms of both specific technical and more general intellectual activities among non-experts. Implementation of the following four initiatives could help to improve the cultivation of employee capabilities: (1) systematic organizational methods of formulating semi-tacit knowledge, such as the management of particular types of knowledge; (2) actions to support a better understanding of the overall factors required for decision-making using intellectual management skills; (3) actions to support the employees’ ability to predict changes using intellectual management skills; and (4) practical on-the-job training and systematic labor management techniques.

View full abstract

In this study, we clarified the latest trends and relationships among business development, personnel training, and ICT (information and communication technology) use in agricultural corporations based on the results of a nationwide questionnaire survey. Our analysis showed several noticeable trends and relationships: (1) Management size expansion (i.e., increases in sales and the number of employees). (2) As business sales increased, the ratio of the corporations with surplus profit increases. (3) Personnel training and marketing were identified as common problems, especially in relation to business diversification. (4) Corporations that promoted personnel training increased along with expanding the business scale (increase of the number of employers). We also clarified several trends in the use of ICT, particularly as it relates to personnel training. Most of the agricultural corporations use items such as personal computers and cellular phones in the regular course of business, and as many as 20 percent use various sensors. Most corporations use ICT for “Financial management” regardless of the management scale, but the ICT use ratio for “Measurement of information” with sensors and “Automatic control” varies depending on the management scale. The ICT use ratio increased for most items as the management size increased. For example, the use ratio for “Arrange and share information” increased proportionally as the number of employees increased, whereas “Work and judgment support” increased rapidly if the number of employees exceeded a baseline value.

View full abstract

Environmental data are measured and collected by simple monitoring devices installed in agricultural fields. These data are very important not only for understanding and predicting factors such as the growth of crops and the occurrence of pests and diseases, but also for optimizing agricultural production processes such as planting, irrigation, fertilization, pest control, and harvesting. However, the amount of data stored in agricultural information databases is rapidly increasing owing to an increase in the number of monitoring devices and sensors installed in such devices. To properly detect characteristic values from such a vast amount of data, it is necessary to develop new numerical technologies and methods. We developed a simple field monitoring system to establish field observations, production optimization, and information sharing between farmers. We also developed and applied a change point analysis program based on the singular spectrum transformation to conduct change point analyses of the field environmental data measured by the monitoring devices. The calculated change point values were then verified through a comparison with farm data recorded by a corporative farmer in the feasibility study.

View full abstract

Tablet devices, such as Apple’s iPad, began to appear in 2010. These types of devices are quite portable and more suited to outdoor use than PCs. They feature touch screens and an intuitive operating system and are therefore easy to use. The aim of this study was to evaluate the use of iPads on farms for both farming and extension and promotion activities. We took tablets and demonstrated to farmers during our activities . We then conducted a questionnaire survey and analyzed the results in terms of agricultural extension and promotion activities in JA Taisetsu; one of the group of Japan Agricultural Cooperatives in Hokkaido. Both farmers and agricultural advisors generally had a favorable view of activities that utilized the iPad; 67% of the respondents replied that it was easier to understand materials presented on the tablet as compared with conventional methods. The biggest advantage identified was the ability to immediately display the latest data and images for farmers during extension and promotion activities. There appear to be sufficient benefits to justify the introduction of tablet devices on farms across Japan.

View full abstract