NEC Corporation has inked a strategic partnership agreement with Kagome to launch agricultural management support services utilising artificial intelligence (AI) for tomato processing companies.
The new service leverages on NEC’s AI-enabled agricultural information and communications technology (ICT), CropScope, to visualize tomato growth and soil conditions based on sensor data and satellite images, and to provide farming management recommendation services. This AI expertise enables the service to provide information on the timing and optimal amounts of irrigation and fertiliser for the cultivation of healthy crops. As a result, farms will be able to achieve stable yields and lower cultivation costs, while practicing environmentally sustainable agriculture without depending on the technical skill of individual growers.
By using this service, tomato processing companies can obtain an understanding of the growing conditions for tomato production on their own farms, as well as their contract growers. Also, they can manage crop harvest orders across all fields in an optimal way based on objective data, which helps reduce yield loss and improve productivity.
Tomato markers are expected to continue expanding in line with population and economic growth, particularly in emerging countries. However, it is necessary for sustainable tomato cultivation to overcome a variety of challenges, such as a decrease in growers and environmental issues.
KEC and Kagome began collaborating in the agricultural field in 2015, and by 2019, they had concluded demonstrations in a variety of regions, including Portugal, Australia and the US. An AI farming experiment in Portugal in 2019 showed that the amount of fertiliser used for the trial was approximately 20% less than the average amount used in general, yielding 127 tonnes of tomatoes per hectare, which is approximately 1.3 times that of the average Portuguese grower, and almost the same as that of particularly skilled growers, said NEC.
Kengo Nakata, general manager, smart agri division, Kagome, commented: “Kagome has been developing agricultural management support technologies using big data collaboration with NEC since 2015, with the aim to realising environmentally friendly and highly profitable agricultural management in the cultivation of tomatoes for processing on a global basis. By combining Kagome’s farming knowledge with NEC’s AI technology, we realise sustainable agricultural.”
With the goal of commercialising this service, Kagome will establish a Smart Agri Division in April 2020, first targeting customers in Europe, then aiming to expand the business to worldwide markets. As a promising market of the future, the trial services of tomato production in Japan are scheduled to take place this year.
Masamitsu Kitase, general manager, corporate business development division, NEC, concluded: “NEC is pleased to have signed a strategic partnership agreement with Kagome and to jointly launch an agricultural management support business utilising AI for the processed tomato market. By accelerating the digitisation of agricultural, NEC aims to realise a sustainable agricultural that can respond flexibly to global social issues on climate change and food safety.”
