Precision Agriculture in Small Scale Farm System Yumiko Kanke

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

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

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

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.

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

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

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

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)

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 ”

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?”

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

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

5. Introducing Robots “To improve precision, it is better to ask robots.” Reducing labor Cost?

 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

Reference     Precision Farming Japan Model by Sakae Shibusawa