We conducted a study on the labor-saving and workload reduction effects of introducing drone-based AI imaging for powdery mildew diagnosis and pesticide spraying drones among pumpkin farmers in Assabu Town, Hiyama Country, Hokkaido, Japan. Regarding AI diagnosis of powdery mildew, the drone flight and imaging methods were improved. As a result, the accuracy rate was high for “large powdery mildew spots” and “healthy”, at 0.867 and 0.973, respectively, but low at 0.115 for “small powdery mildew spots”. The series of tasks—capturing images, diagnosing, and displaying results—could be completed in less than 30 minutes per 2 hectares. This also included successfully collecting accurate positional information on powdery mildew outbreaks using a satellite positioning system. The drone reduced work time by 26% compared to a boom sprayer in the case of three 6-ha plots scattered within a 3-km radius, where plots and water supply facilities were not adjacent to each other. The drone tended to be slightly less effective than the boom sprayer in controlling gummy stem blight, however it was more effective than no fungicide application in controlling the disease. The effects of boom sprayer and drone applications on yield were considered to be smaller than the effects of weather, transplanting time, and harvest time. The estimated area that could be sprayed by one drone was 53.6 ha, the area of total pumpkin fields of the demonstration farm, in 7 days.

Recently people with minor health complaints (MHC) (i.e. irritability and fatigue) have been increasing．We have made special menu which contains nutrients and functional compounds for improving MHC. A total of 83 healthy subjects (ages: 24–76 years) were received recipes of the menu and supposed to cook by themselves once a day for 7 days, and to answer several questionnaires concerning MHC and healthy habit. Those were analyzed at 0, 1 week and 1 month．MHC was assessed by the Brief Job-Stress Questionnaire that uses the items for liveliness, irritability， fatigue， and body complaints．Participants with MHC was 54 subjects and they significantly showed higher liveliness and lower irritability at 1 month compared with those at 0 week. Healthy habit with young people was significantly improved at 1 month. These indicate menu presentation would be useful for improving MHC and healthy habit.

A large amount of food processing by-products and food leftovers are treated as waste, while conventional beef production in Japan depends heavily on imported concentrate feed, resulting in considerable impacts on the environment. The utilization of "eco-feed", livestock feed upcycled from food processing by-products, food leftovers, and similar materials, is expected not only to reduce the economic costs of preparing feed but also to help mitigate its associated environmental impacts. This study conducted a life cycle assessment to evaluate the environmental impacts of a Japanese Black cattle production system using eco-feed primarily made from silage of food processing by-products (Eco-feed beef), and compared it with the conventional Japanese beef production method. The analysis considered the mitigation of environmental impacts achieved by avoiding waste disposal through using food processing by-products and food leftovers as animal feed. The objective was to determine the reduction in environmental load when using eco-feed upcycled from these materials. For Eco-feed beef production, the impacts of feed production on climate change, acidification, eutrophication, and energy consumption were mitigated by 27%, 17%, 15%, and 26%, respectively, compared with conventional production. Similarly, the impacts of the feed transportation process were mitigated by 14%, 12%, 12%, and 16%, respectively. The mitigating effect of avoiding waste disposal, predominantly landfill, accounted for 88% of the total climate change impact of the other processes in Eco-feed beef production. Overall, the Eco-feed beef production system outperformed the conventional production system, mitigating the impacts on climate change, acidification, eutrophication, and energy consumption by 89%, 9%, 3%, and 26%, respectively. These results demonstrated that upcycling food processing by-products and food leftover, which would otherwise be disposed of in landfills, into eco-feed substantially reduced the impacts on climate change and energy consumption.

‘Sogetsu’ is a new cultivar of Japanese pear (Pyrus pyrifolia Nakai) with very early maturity and smooth skin type that was released in 2021 by the Institute of Fruit Tree and Tea Science, National Agriculture and Food Research Organization (NIFTS). The cultivar, derived from a cross between ‘Natsushizuku’ and ‘Hatsumaru’ in 2007, was selected as a promising breeding selection in 2014 and named Nashi Tsukuba 59. It was tested in the 9th national trial, held during 2015, in which 35 experimental stations in 34 prefectures throughout Japan participated. Ultimately, we decided to release this cultivar and applied for its registration in 2021 on the basis of the Plant Variety Protection and Seed Act of Japan under the cultivar name ‘Sogetsu’. This cultivar was registered on March 12, 2025 (No.30869). The S-genotype of ‘Sogetsu’ is S₁S₃, and it is cross-incompatible with other cultivars having the same S-genotype, such as ‘Rinka’. The following results were obtained for ‘Sogetsu’ in the national trial regarding its tree and fruit habits. ‘Sogetsu’ trees showed medium vigor and produced a medium number of shoots. They formed moderately few fruit spurs and moderately few axillary flower buds. The average flowering date of ‘Sogetsu’ in the national trial was April 16, the same as ‘Kosui’ that is an ancestor of ‘Sogetsu’, and a popular pear cultivar currently grown in Japan. The average harvest date of ‘Sogetsu’ in the national trial was August 3, about 2 weeks before ‘Kosui’. ‘Sogetsu’ was resistant to black spot disease, but susceptible to scab disease. The fruit of ‘Sogetsu’ is round. Its weight averaged 356 g in the national trial, which was significantly lower than that of ‘Kosui’ (383 g); however, the two cultivars had similar fruit weights when assessed at NIFTS. Flesh firmness of ‘Sogetsu’ was 4.8 lbs, significantly lower than ‘Kosui’. The soluble solids content of the fruit juice averaged 12.5%, which was not significantly different from ‘Kosui’. The juice pH averaged 5.2, the same as ‘Kosui’. The occurrence of core rot and water core, two physiological disorders of pear, was minor. We expect ‘Sogetsu’ to become widespread in many pear-producing areas because early ripening is advantageous for commercial production.