## 4 Promoting technological innovation on production/distribution fronts

## (1) Strategic R&D and new industry-academia research cooperation initiatives

To develop the agriculture, forestry and fisheries sector into a growth industry, the government promotes a new industry-academia research cooperation system (integration and utilization of “Knowledge”) to externally grab new ideas and technologies in different fields, produce innovative research achievements and promptly link research achievements to goods and business projects.

The government promotes the creation of agricultural, forestry and fisheries products with advantages using new varieties meeting demand from consumers and users, and research, development and demonstration to dramatically improve productivity to enhance production fronts.

## Three-step structure to move integration and utilization of "Knowledge"

STEP 1: Industry-Academia-Government collaboration conference on integration and utilization of “Knowledge”

The government promotes the building of a research and development platform covering researchers, producers and local governments through seminars and workshops.

## STEP 2: Research and development platform

Research challenges, intellectual property treatments and business plans are considered in a run-up to the building of a research and development consortium.

## STEP3: Research and development consortium

Accelerating the development of innovative technologies for commercialization

Source: MAFF

## A gene that enlarges grains of rice

A research team led by Nagoya University discovered that GW6a (Grain Weight 6a) gene of indica rice variety “Kasalath” controls the size of rice grains. The team found that the introduction of the GW6a gene of “Kasalath” to japonica rice variety “Nipponbare” significantly increased its grains by about 15% in weight. The utilization of this gene in breeding will help to develop high-yield

The information of GW6a genes of other crops, such as corn and wheat, is also useful for their high-yield breeding. The development of high-yield crop varieties is expected to defuse the impending food crisis.

Grain and brown grain phenotypes

## (2) Using advanced technologies to innovate production and distribution systems

As business farmers’ aging and labor shortages grow more serious, saving agricultural labor force and the succession of cultivation know-how to new farmers become important challenges. The government promotes the research, development and on-site demonstration of “smart agriculture” using robot, information and communications technologies to substantially save human labor and realize high-quality production.

The government promotes next-generation greenhouse horticulture to take advantage of woody biomass and other regional energy resources and advanced technologies to reduce costs and realize year-round systematic production.

## Smart agriculture initiatives

R&D bringing about new technological innovations

Accelerating introduction of innovations through effect demonstrations in demonstration areas

An automatic

harvesting robot

A causeway-weeding robot for steep slopes

Agricultural

machine operation

assistance

An assist suit to reduce labor

A timely operation and fertilization system

Source: MAFF

A pest forecasting

and removing

system

A system for

passing on

know-how from

practical farmers

high-sugar-content peaches using sensing

## A next-generation greenhouse horticulture initiative

Toyama Kankyo Seibi Co. in Toyama, Toyama Prefecture, launched the Toyama Smart-Agri Next Generation Greenhouse Horticulture Base Development Council along with the Toyama Prefecture government and other parties in 2014 to develop a next-generation greenhouse horticulture base that integrates a 4-hectare greenhouse with seeding and shipment preparation facilities and uses electricity and heat generated from a neighboring waste disposal facility for cultivation. The base began to produce fruit tomatoes, Eustoma grandiflorum and others in 2015, realizing year-round systematic production by introducing a system to use information and communications technologies to check greenhouse temperatures and other environmental data and the growth situation with mobile sensors and keep an optimum environment for plant growth.

The company has also begun to produce processed tomato products, planning to create new industries and jobs in the rice monoculture region.

A mobile sensor