Advancing Japan's Agricultural Competitiveness Through AI Solutions

Enhancing Japan's Agricultural Landscape with AI

Japan's Agriculture faces significant challenges including workforce shortages, individualistic practices, and difficulties in technology transfer. On September 25, 2023, AI Data Corporation hosted the "AI Agent x AI/DX Forum for Agriculture," aimed at addressing these issues through the implementation of AI technology and digital transformation (DX). The forum outlined various solutions for building a sustainable next-generation agriculture system leveraging AI for productivity improvement, knowledge transfer, and integrated data utilization.

Session 1: Riding the AI Highway in Agriculture

Sasaki Takahito, the CEO of the AOS Group, opened the forum by discussing Japan's delays in digital transformation in agriculture. He proposed the adoption of a model he calls the "AI Highway," designed to lower barriers for farmers, municipalities, and businesses to integrate AI effectively. By aggregating and structuring agricultural data and expertise, Sasaki emphasized AI's role in providing real-time decision support, potentially increasing productivity while mitigating risks. The importance of aligning AI and DX with national strategies for food security and agricultural competitiveness was also highlighted.

Session 2: Promoting Data Utilization in Agriculture

In the second session, Hikaru Mitsuhiro spoke about the state of data usage in agriculture from a policy perspective. He pointed out that the national basic plan emphasizes the need for agricultural DX and smart farming while stating the urgency of building platforms for data integration and cooperation among stakeholders, including local governments and agricultural cooperatives. Key policy initiatives, such as improving ICT literacy among agricultural producers and establishing standardized data formats, were discussed, alongside the need for collaborative models involving private sector and research institutions to utilize various data types effectively.

Session 3: Redesigning Agriculture as a Growth Industry

Daisuke Shida, CTO of AI Data Corporation, introduced the "AI AgriSense on IDX" platform designed to help new farmers and small agricultural businesses achieve high profitability utilizing AI. This system compiles various agricultural data (such as weather, soil, and operational records) onto an IDX platform and supports visualization and decision-making with generative AI. By utilizing the insights and experiences of seasoned farmers, the platform standardizes decision-making and incorporates templates and prompts to facilitate intuitive use even for beginners in agriculture.

Session 4: WAGRI's Challenge in Data Integration

Turu Kaku highlighted the operational challenges faced by the agricultural data integration platform WAGRI, which aims to aggregate nationwide agricultural data. Positioned as a core infrastructure for data-driven agriculture, WAGRI focuses on integrating sensor data, agricultural records, and meteorological information. The session also presented collaborative efforts with private companies and applications as a means to explore AI implementation and analytics in practice.

Session 5: Transforming Fragmented Data into Value

Hiroto Kitagawa from PLANT DATA Corp raised concerns about the fragmentation of agricultural data. He proposed a collaborative model utilizing DX-BPO (Business Process Outsourcing) alongside AI AgriSense to unify and restructure agricultural records and field data, thereby enhancing decision support. This model explores the potential for integrated DX across the agricultural value chain while addressing challenges related to data accuracy, ICT literacy, and infrastructural constraints.

Session 6: Sustainable & Smart Rice Fields

The final speaker, Yoshinobu Shimomura, discussed the forefront of digital transformation in rice farming through the Smart Rice Field initiative. Using robotics, IoT, and AI, the initiative aims to monitor and control water management, fertilization, and yield prediction in real-time. By using AI to adjust traditional soil and weather constraints, the session illustrated technical approaches to sustainable farming and increasing production quality alongside quantity.

Conclusion

The AI/DX Forum highlighted the potential of AI to address significant challenges in Japanese agriculture, underscoring the necessity for a cohesive approach to data integration, policy support, and community engagement. The solutions discussed pave the way for a more resilient and competitive agricultural landscape in Japan.

About AI Data Corporation

Founded in April 2015, AI Data Corporation, headquartered in Minato, Tokyo, has been offering comprehensive data infrastructure services for over 20 years. With a strong reputation from more than 9,000 companies and 900,000 customers, AI Data has been recognized for its commitment to data safety and utility across various sectors.