Food manufacturers Kagome and NEC have announced that they will establish a new company to support the farming of processed tomatoes, which are raw materials for ketchup, using AI = artificial intelligence.
First of all, we would like to expand our business in Europe and the United States, and in the future we would like to incorporate the developed technology into Japan.
Kagome and NEC met online on the 15th and announced that they will establish a new company in Portugal next month to support the farming of processed tomatoes using AI.
Since processed tomatoes are cultivated in the open field, they are easily affected by the natural environment, and the quality of the tomatoes depends on the technique of the producer.
For this reason, the new company will let AI learn the know-how of skilled farmers to indicate the appropriate amount and timing of water and fertilizer, and to grasp the growth status of tomatoes and the condition of farmland with sensors and satellite images. We provide services such as.
The new company wants to expand its business mainly in Europe and the United States, and to incorporate the developed technology into Japan in the future.
Kengo Nakata, General Manager of Kagome's Smart Agri Division, who will become the CEO of the new company, said, "With AI and ICT technology, we will provide methods suitable for the cultivation environment in real time, and everyone will be able to perform accurate and efficient agriculture. I want to realize the world. "
In the field of agriculture, support for farming using AI is expanding, such as the joint development of technology by ITO EN and Fujitsu to determine the appropriate time for picking tea.