Japan: Digital Technology Revolutionizing Urban Farming in Tokyo
Sensors installed throughout the school’s farm area record field conditions such as temperature, humidity and soil moisture content.
By Tomoko Hatakeyama
Japan News Staff Writer
November 1, 2023
Excerpt:
Small-scale farmers in Tokyo are increasingly expanding the boundaries of agriculture through the use of digital technology and other means.
“This tomato is splitting; is it still viable?” asked Sanpei Hattori in an experimental greenhouse of NTT AgriTechnology Corp. in Chofu, Tokyo, in mid-October.
“It’s probably because you abruptly gave water to a place that used to be very dry,” replied Tomonori Akiyama, a specialist at the Tokyo Metropolitan Agricultural Research Center in Tachikawa, situated about 18 kilometers from the greenhouse. “It’s not a disease, so please don’t worry.”
Akiyama provided his online guidance after observing video and listening to explanations from Hattori via the latter’s “smart glasses.”
“[Operating online], I can offer advice to many more farmers than I could if I was visiting them in person,” Akiyama said.
NTT AgriTechnology, a subsidiary of telecommunications giant NTT Group, has been working on an experiment with the Tokyo metropolitan government to apply digital technology to agriculture since 2020. The greenhouse is equipped with a 5G antenna that enables communication with remote locations, a high-resolution 4K camera with a zoom function, and a mobile camera that allows crops to be monitored from anywhere.
