Virtual company tour SMART agriculture draws a lot of Japanese attention

On 22 June 2021, the East Netherlands Development Agency (Oost NL) organized with the Embassy of the Kingdom of the Netherlands in Japan, the Netherlands Enterprise Agency (RVO) and Wageningen University & Research (WUR) an online event “Robotics & AI for data-driven horticulture and agriculture” as part of the digital TeamNL Tokyo Expo ‘Rangaku Now’. Approximately 600 participants from Japan and the Netherlands signed up for this event.

The recordings of the webinar and an after movie video will be available on the following links:

• Webinar recordings (Japanese, English)
• After movie video (English with Japanese subtitles)

The virtual company tour was a follow up to digitalization mission in February 2021 by showing applied and future technologies in the  greenhouse and open field production. A wide range of companies showed at the virtual company tour their solutions and discussed at the Papendal studio future developments in a lively discussion.

Key-enabling technologies of robotics and expected developments were discussed in the first part of the program. ISO Group showed an example of (standard) Japanese robots (Denso) performing horticultural operations. Speakers from OnePlanet and Demcon discussed the (technology) developments which now make robotization possible.

In the second part of the program, indoor developments in greenhouse horticulture were discussed, in particular, AI and Robotics enabling the autonomous greenhouse. Interesting examples from Wageningen University & Research, KeyGene, Kind Technologies (Hortilogics), Hoogendoorn Growth Management and inaho were presented. According to experts it will take 3-5 years before robots will be introduced and 10-15 years before the greenhouse will be autonomous.

In the last part, experts from Pixelfarming Robotics, Aurea Imaging, Steketee, Wageningen University & Research  and Kubota discussed the SMART developments in open-field agriculture. Compared to indoor production, there are more challenges if the climate, soil and diseases are taken  into account. SMART tractors, and SMART implementation of technologies are future steps.

Considering the big interest in this topic from Dutch and Japanese industry, Oost NL will organize a SMART agriculture trade mission to Japan including matchmaking for a select group of companies. In addition, RVO will organize an innovation mission to Japan in order to explore and stimulate R&D collaboration and accelerate innovations in the field of AI and Robotics in greenhouses and open field agriculture.

Both missions will be coordinated and organized together with the Embassy of the Kingdom of the Netherlands in Japan.

Short films of Dutch smart Agriculture examples

On the following links, short films of Dutch smart Agriculture examples shown during the webinar are available:

Aurea Imaging

ISO Group

Wageningen University & Research, NPEC:

KeyGene

Dutch participants of the webinar

Agri Technics Projects, Alcomij BV, Aurea Imaging, Bom Group, Certhon Build BV, Corvus Drones BV, DanDutch, Delft University of Technology, Delphy Japan, Demcon, Enza Zaden, FME, Fruit Tech Campus, Hoogendoorn Growth Management, Hortilogics/ Kind Technologies, inaho Europe B.V. , KeyGene, Kubota Holdings Europe B.V. – Innovation Center Europe, Light4Food, MTA, Odd.Bot, OnePlanet / Imec, Priva, Ridder, Rijk Zwaan, Steketee B.V, Track32 B.V, Van der Valk Horti Systems, VDL ETG , Vitulo Plus BV, Wageningen University & Research.