Japan News Update #63 (Sept 2024)

Future agricultural machinery shown at the 2025 Osaka Expo

Kubota Corp. and 11 other sponsors of Expo 2025 Osaka Kansai’s Future City pavilion will showcase unmanned, autonomous agricultural machinery. Kubota will present future food and farming technologies through a large display and an interactive simulation game. The pavilion, one of the expo’s largest, aims to explore future cities, combining technological advancement with solutions to social challenges.

Source: Kubota to present unmanned agricultural machinery at 2025 Osaka Expo

Japanese food businesses turning to domestically grown vegetables

In response to uncertainties in foreign vegetable imports, Japanese food companies are increasingly sourcing domestically grown produce. Delica Foods Holdings, a company specializing in precut vegetables, plans to reduce reliance on Chinese onions, aiming for 80% local sourcing by 2029. The agriculture ministry is working with stakeholders to boost the use of Japanese-grown vegetables, focusing on reducing risks associated with import disruptions.

Source: Japanese food firms switching to homegrown vegetables

Innovations in the dairy sector

Ajinomoto has partnered with Danone to reduce greenhouse gas emissions from dairy cattle by incorporating an amino acid supplement into cow feed. The feed supplement, which aids nutrient absorption, is expected to cut emissions from cows' belching and excreta by 10%. The initiative will begin with farms in Spain, Brazil, and the U.S., aiming to reduce Danone's Scope 3 emissions by 400,000 tonnes. The supplement also helps cut feed costs by 5% while maintaining nutritional value.

Source: Japan's Ajinomoto and Danone team up to cut dairy cow emissions

The National Institute for Materials Science and the National Agricultural Research Organisation (NARO) have developed a compact olfactory sensor that detects cow health through odors linked to ketosis. This sensor automatically identifies illness-related smells, enhancing dairy farm efficiency and supporting large-scale and smart dairy farming. It analyzes milk odors with accuracy comparable to current methods, with AI integration under consideration. The start-up Qception will manage commercialization.

Source: Dairy cow body condition management with odor sensors

JA Tokachi Shimizu in Hokkaido is ramping up production of organic pelletized compost, made from cattle and chicken manure, sun-dried during summer for efficiency. The facility produces about 900 tons annually, with 90% completed by September. Sun-drying triples output compared to machinery, helping reduce costs. The compost supports vegetable production under the Toretanto brand, a combination of the words ‘toretate’ (meaning ‘freshly caught’ in Japanese) and ‘tanto’ (meaning ‘a lot’).

Source: Production of pelletized compost in full swing in Hokkaido