Japan will replace farmers with robots and unmanned tractors



    Like other countries, Japan is faced with the problem of an aging population. The problem also affected farmers, whose average age is increasing, and retirement is not far off. In this situation, Japan offers its solution: robots and unmanned tractors. After all, an unmanned tractor for plowing and harvesting is a much simpler technology than an unmanned vehicle.

    The average age of Japanese farmers is 67 years old, two thirds of them are over 65 years old. In this regard, the Minister of Agriculture of Japan Hiroshi Moriyama put forward the idea of ​​replacing farmers with autonomous Japanese-made tractors and robots, reports Bloomberg.

    The current elderly farmers offer to buy exoskeletons.

    The agriculture ministers of the G7 countries will discuss the automation of agriculture on April 23-24 at a meeting in Niigata, Japan’s prefecture, the first such meeting in seven years.

    Colleagues from other countries agree with the Japanese minister. The US Department of Agriculture warned that if the problem is not solved, the aging farmers threaten the country's food security. In the USA, the average age of farmers is 57 years. Five years ago, it was 55 years old, that is, there is a tendency. The number of farmers over 75 years of age has increased over this time by 30%, while the number of farmers younger than 25 years has decreased by 20%. According to the UN, the average age of farmers in developed countries is 60 years.

    To replace farmers with robots, Japan plans to invest 4 billion yen ($ 36 million) in the development of automation systems for agriculture and 20 different types of robots in the coming year. Among them will be quite specialized harvesting robots, for example, capable of distinguishing overripe peaches from normal ones. Unmanned tractors are ready to release the corporation Kubota.


    Prototype of the autonomous tractor Kubota with a lidar.

    In addition, Kubota produces robotized backpacks with exoskeleton elements to help aging farmers. Such a device supports hands in a raised state when harvesting fruits and berries from trees, so you can work all day and your hands will not get tired.







    “Farmers have no choice but to implement technologies developed by commercial companies if they want to increase productivity with the approach of old age,” said Makiko Tsugata, senior analyst at Mizuho Securities in Tokyo. “The government should help them master new technologies.”

    The number of uncultivated land in Japan has almost doubled over the past 20 years and reached 420 thousand hectares in 2015 due to the fact that farmers are aging and can no longer do their work. No young people to replace them. Young people choose more prestigious occupations and leave for cities, and Japan now has to buy 60% of food abroad.

    What about us?

    If Russia faces the problem of a shortage of farmers, the release of unmanned tractors is ready to set up the Minsk Tractor Plant. In Belarus, several years ago, unmanned mining dump trucks were developed , and last year a prototype of an unmanned robot based on a Belarus-132 tractor was manufactured .







    The unique device is able to extinguish fires, spray the fields with toxic chemicals, investigate dangerous objects, etc. It works in the auditorium or offline mode. Initially it is supposed to be used in the Ministry of Emergency Situations, but it is easy to modify the software and re-equip the tractor to harvest potatoes and other tasks in agriculture.

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