Precision Agriculture in Small Scale Farm System Yumiko Kanke
Slide 2 Precision Agriculture? Treating small units is not new.
Historically it was there before. But due to the luck of
information to manage individual units, precision agriculture was
not advanced Slide 3 The State of Japanese Agriculture Average farm
scale is 3.7 acre Precision farming approach is only for large
scale farmers Why? Involves intensive technologies with high
investment, Its estimated that the scale merits can realized on the
large scale farms Slide 4 The State of Japanese Agriculture Average
age of farmers is over 65 years old They love what they do and what
their ancestors did; Hard to adopt new technologies Slide 5 The
State of Japanese Agriculture Land Ownership Due to the political
policy in the past, land-ownership is complicated. Government
assigned fields to people and take rice as tax. Neighboring fields
are owned by different people. Slide 6 The State of Japanese
Agriculture Doubt for Economic Return Rice production requires
intensive labor cost compared to wheat production. Farmers prefer
to manage labor fee to increase profits rather than improve
fertilizer and pesticide management Slide 7 What are the variables
needed to be considered? Within-Field- Environmental factors
Between-Field-Environmental factors and different plant species
(ex. Rice, soybeans and vegetable) Between Farmers Temporal
Variable Factors in Small Scale Farm System Slide 8 Hierarchical
Variability Big Farm Small Farm One Farmer Several Farmers
Variability in Farmers Within-Field Variability Between-Field
Variability Uniform Farm Land Land Use Diversity Slide 9 Approach
to Precision Ag Focus on Between-Fields Variability Focus on
Reducing Labor Work Focus on Efficient Data Collection Real-Time
Soil Monitoring System Remote Control Helicopter Sensor On Site
Weather Station Introducing Robots Information Management (GIS)
Slide 10 1. Real-Time Soil Sensing Leads to measurement of Soil
Moisture Organic Mater Nitrogen (NO3-) EC pH Soil Sampling is time
consuming and requires intensive labor Slide 11 2. Remote Control
Sensing System Good for fields at random locations (beneficial for
treating between-field variability) Good for terrace system Good
for farms who grow different species in one season Rice Vegetable
Soybean If you manage 20 different rice fields, 10 different
soybean fields and 15 different vegetable fields in one season, is
it economical to use variable applicator? Slide 12 3. On Site
Weather Station Insolation Monitoring Digital Camera Sensor for
Temperature Moisture Soil Moisture It monitors environmental and
plant growth condition Harvest date (Save time and money for drier)
Disease control Provide real time information to consumers Slide 13
4. Information Management (GeoMation Farm by Hitachi) One Farm has
200 different fields with different plants in one season By using
all of the information, (soil monitoring, field weather station,
field monitoring) software provide information for planting,
fertilizer and herbicide application date, application rate, as
well as harvesting date. Management Monitor Check the management
information Today Tomorrow Save time Manage more area in one
days------ Reduction of labor time and cost Daily Instruction Slide
14 5. Introducing Robots To improve precision, it is better to ask
robots. Reducing labor Cost? Slide 15 Precision Agriculture has
been launched in academic fields Due to the small scale fields, it
is beneficial to focus on between-field variability rather than
within-field variability Mechanical improvements has received more
attention to improve precision Ag as well as reducing labor work.
Summary of Precision Ag in Japan Slide 16 Reference
http://www.afftis.or.jp/nouki/ki3d01.htm
http://www.afftis.or.jp/nouki/ki3d01.htm
http://brain.naro.affrc.go.jp/PF/ http://brain.naro.affrc.go.jp/PF/
http://www.maff.go.jp/ http://www.maff.go.jp/ Precision Farming
Japan Model by Sakae Shibusawa
