What is Agricultural Digital Transformation? Explains three purposes and cases

Digital transformation of agriculture is attracting attention year by year as a solution to the problem of the declining birthrate and the aging population at production sites.

In March 2021, the Ministry of Agriculture, Forestry, and Fisheries emphasized its positive attitude toward agricultural digital transformation by announcing current issues and future efforts under the title of " Agriculture DX Concept ".

However, it is often difficult to imagine the specific purpose and utilization method.

Therefore, this time, I will explain the outline of agricultural digital transformation and its three purposes.

We will also introduce examples of companies that have actually introduced agricultural digital transformation, so please refer to them.

What is Agricultural Digital Transformation?

Agricultural digital transformation is " using AI technology and robot technology for agriculture to save labor and improve quality and production efficiency ".

By utilizing various information about agriculture as digital data,

Work with AI-controlled robots

Manage collection information with data

Predict and respond to crop growth and diseases

And so on.

In Japan, the number of agricultural workers is decreasing year by year, and how to secure human resources is a big issue.

As the digital transformation of agriculture progresses, even a small number of workers can grow in scale.

In recent years, it has received a great deal of attention as " smart agriculture. "

Regarding digital transformation, our separate article " What is digital transformation?" Please read this as well, as it explains in detail in " Thorough explanation of the reason for attention ".

"Agriculture DX Concept" promoted by the Ministry of Agriculture, Forestry and Fisheries

The " Agriculture DX Concept " is the "Future Agriculture Concept of Japan " announced by the Ministry of Agriculture, Forestry, and Fisheries in March 2021.

The Agricultural DX Concept Study Group explains its purpose using the terms "FaaS (Farming as a Service)", or literally "agriculture as a service".

In this plan (decided by the Cabinet in March 2020), "Agriculture that can create and provide value that accurately meets consumer demand through data-driven agricultural management that utilizes digital technology" ( It was called FaaS (Farming as a Service), and its realization was the purpose of Agricultural DX.

Quote: Agricultural DX Concept｜Agricultural DX Concept Seminar

Nowadays, the number of farmers is decreasing, the labor force is scarce, and consumers' food needs are diversifying.

Agricultural managers are required to steer difficultly to accurately meet the needs of consumers while streamlining and optimizing agricultural management.

In order to reduce the burden on the site and provide a stable supply of food, new agricultural management using agricultural DX is necessary.

The purpose of why the agricultural DX concept is necessary will be explained in detail below.

1. Responding to labor shortages

Agricultural workers are aging significantly in Japan, The number of key agricultural workers aged 65 and over has already reached 70% of the total.

Due to the shortage of young people's successors and the production system that relies on the human labor force unique to Japanese agriculture, the labor shortage in the field has become a serious issue.

According to the Ministry of Agriculture, Forestry and Fisheries, if the labor shortage continues to become noticeable, it is expected that it will be difficult to maintain the current production level as well as the production base of agricultural land and agricultural facilities. Increase.

2. Efficiency of production

Along with the labor shortage, the issue is to improve production efficiency.

As I introduced earlier, In Japanese agriculture, a production system that relies on the human labor force is still common.

Therefore, it is expected that production efficiency will be improved by promoting digital transformation by utilizing robots, AI, and IoT.

3. Create high value-added products

By utilizing digital transformation, it will be possible to digitize consumer needs and create products with higher added value.

for example,

Safety

relief

Deliciousness

Freshness

healthy

Nature experience

Stories of hardships and thoughts

Etc.

By not only providing products but also providing the positive value that can be obtained from them. It is expected that farmers will get a fair price.

Agricultural DX concept aims

Various efforts are being made by private companies to achieve this.

The Ministry of Agriculture, Forestry, and Fisheries has set the timeline for this agricultural DX initiative as " 2030 ".

The reason is that it takes time to introduce AI technology and robot technology in earnest, and after about 10 years, generations who are not resistant to IT technology will be engaged in agriculture and their utilization will advance.

Agricultural transformation is needed to achieve “Agricultural Digital Transformation” and “FaaS” by 2030.

Project for the realization of agricultural DX

Here, we would like to introduce three projects to realize digital agricultural transformation based on the current situation.

It is necessary to understand it correctly because it will be related to the future of agricultural DX.

The following projects are based on the " Agriculture DX Concept ".

If you want to know more, please see the material.

Current status of digital technology utilization in agriculture

The "Agriculture DX Concept" also mentions the current state of digital technology utilization in agricultural digital transformation.

In this chapter

Production site

Rural area

Circulation and consumption

Administrative affairs

I will introduce the current situation of these four fields.

5 Cases of Agricultural Digital Transformation

How is agricultural digital transformation actually introduced?

In this chapter, we will introduce the latest efforts based on the following five examples.

Kalm Cape Mountain

Yokota Farm

Vivid garden

MAP

Digital map

Summary: Let's work on agricultural DX with reference to examples

"Digital transformation of agriculture" is expected to save labor in agriculture, increase production efficiency, increase the commercial value of products, and contribute to the stable supply of food.

Both the government and the private sector have already begun to move toward the 2030 timeline, and that movement should become more active in the future.