English | 简体中文 | 繁體中文 | 한국어 | 日本語
Tuesday, 31 March 2020, 10:45 JST
Share:
    

Source: NEC Corporation
NEC and Kagome to Provide AI-enabled Services that Improve Tomato Yields

TOKYO, Mar 31, 2020 - (JCN Newswire) - NEC Corporation today announced the conclusion of a strategic partnership agreement with Kagome Co., Ltd. to launch agricultural management support services utilizing artificial intelligence (AI) for leading tomato processing companies.

Image 1: Smart devices enable large farms to grasp conditions, quickly detect irregularities and make agricultural decisions

Image 2: Farm management and information-intensive portal for farmers

The new service capitalizes on NEC's AI-enabled agricultural ICT platform, 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 best timing and optimal amounts of irrigation and fertilizer for the cultivation of healthy crops. As a result, farms are able to achieve stable yields and lower cultivation costs, while practicing environmentally sustainable agriculture without depending exclusively on the technical skill of individual growers.

By using this service, leading tomato processing companies can obtain a comprehensive understanding of the most effective 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 to reduce yield loss and improve productivity.

Tomato markets 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.

NEC and Kagome began collaborating in the agricultural field in 2015, and by 2019 they had conducted demonstrations in a variety of regions, including Portugal, Australia and the United States. An AI farming experiment in Portugal in 2019 showed that the amount of fertilizer used for the trial was approximately 20% less than the average amount used in general, yielding 127 tons 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.

With the goal of commercializing 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, trial services of tomato production in Japan are scheduled to take place in 2020.

"Kagome has been developing agricultural management support technologies using big data in collaboration with NEC since 2015, with the aim of realizing environmentally friendly and highly profitable agricultural management in the cultivation of tomatoes for processing on a global basis," said Kengo Nakata, General Manager, Smart Agri Division. "By combining Kagome's farming know-how with NEC's AI technology, we will realize sustainable agriculture," he added.

"NEC is pleased to have signed a strategic partnership agreement with Kagome and to jointly launch an agricultural management support business utilizing AI for the processed tomato market," said Masamitsu Kitase, General Manager, Corporate Business Development Division. "By accelerating the digitization of agriculture, NEC aims to realize a sustainable agriculture that can respond flexibly to global social issues on climate change and food safety," he added.

For more details visit https://www.nec.com/en/press/202003/global_20200331_01.html.

Topic: Press release summary
Source: NEC Corporation

Sectors: Food & Beverage, Artificial Intel [AI]
https://www.acnnewswire.com
From the Asia Corporate News Network


Copyright © 2024 ACN Newswire. All rights reserved. A division of Asia Corporate News Network.

 
NEC Corporation Links

http://www.nec.com

https://www.facebook.com/nec.global/

https://twitter.com/NEC_corp

https://www.youtube.com/user/NECglobalOfficial

https://www.linkedin.com/company/nec/

NEC Corporation Related News
2024年4月16日 14時00分 JST
NEC、SBTiからNet-Zero目標の認定を取得
Thursday, 11 April 2024, 15:10 JST
DOCOMO, NTT, NEC and Fujitsu Develop Top-level Sub-terahertz 6G Device Capable of Ultra-high-speed 100 Gbps Transmission
Wednesday, 10 April 2024, 13:36 JST
Transgene and NEC Present First Clinical Benefits of Neoantigen Cancer Vaccine, TG4050, in Head & Neck Cancer at AACR 2024
Monday, 8 April 2024, 13:45 JST
NEC white paper proposes comprehensive process workflow for the application of AI-driven personalized cancer vaccines
Monday, 25 March 2024, 10:08 JST
NEC develops marketing strategy planning & effectiveness simulation technology using generative AI
More news >>
Copyright © 2024 ACN Newswire - Asia Corporate News Network
Home | About us | Services | Partners | Events | Login | Contact us | Cookies Policy | Privacy Policy | Disclaimer | Terms of Use | RSS
US: +1 214 890 4418 | China: +86 181 2376 3721 | Hong Kong: +852 8192 4922 | Singapore: +65 6549 7068 | Tokyo: +81 3 6859 8575