KUBOTA FARM

Challenge of the Growing Crisis of Global Food Insecurity

The twin crises of climate change and finite natural resources have been significant challenges facing agriculture for a long time, leaving farmers frustrated with the inability to develop an appropriate production plan while the cost is rising in contrast with a fall in productivity and unfulfilled potential. Such obstacles have resulted in unstable income, affecting the quality of life and farmers’ families’ well-being. Coupled with an ever-increasing population, higher consumption demand and an emerging aging society, a looming farm labor shortage in agriculture could deepen the food insecurity crisis in the future.

New Farming Theory with Digital Innovation to Drive Precise and Sustainable Productivity

To enhance Thai farmers’ knowledge, KUBOTA FARM has been introduced to create new farming experiences to foster a more sustainable agricultural sector with farmer-centric approaches. The initiative is to equip farmers with hands-on experience through learning to improve production performance and achieve the target yield with precision farming techniques to help project yields and quality with new farming technology powered by IoT (Internet of Things) and agricultural machinery innovations. Equipped with comprehensive data, farmers can use data analytics to plan and design farming management more efficiently to help lessen manual labor and increase productivity and precision. Besides, KUBOTA FARM also applies the Circular Economy principles to save production resources, cut costs and generate a sustainable income.

Circular Economy in Agriculture Toward Development of Solutions for Sustainability

KUBOTA FARM presents a wide range of Circular Economy-based solutions integrating with technologies, as follows:

1. Farming Solutions

• New Theory Solutions
  that focuses on resource maximization approaches such as integrated farming system, crop rotation, rice straw-based fertilizer and cultivation system. The solutions aim to curtail fertilizer costs while increasing yield value. The solutions also include making rice straw pulp for use in other areas to minimize burning after harvest. The solutions are in collaboration with the Land Development Department and the Department of Agriculture Extension.
• Zero Broadcast Solutions
  to help cut costs and wastage of seeds by 50-70% with the technologies of rice transplanting, also rice, maize and bean direct seeding in paddy and field. The solutions are in collaboration with the Rice Department, Department of Agriculture Extension and Department of Agriculture.
• Precision Farming Solutions
  to help reduce cost and wastage of fertilizers and yield loss caused by plant lodging with the implementation of the KAS Crop Calendar application which is in collaboration with the National Electronics and Computer Technology Center, National Science and Technology Development Agency (NECTEC-NSTDA).

2. Water Solutions

• Water Management Solutions,
  where farmers can use application sensors to measure the soil’s moisture level to help plan better water management. The solutions are in collaboration with SCG’s startup, “Agcura.”
• Optimal Water Management Solutions
  to better irrigate water from fish ponds to farms. The solutions are in collaboration with the Royal Irrigation Department, the Hydro – Informatics Institute, the Chaipattana Foundation and NSTDA.
• Groundwater Drainage Solutions
  to help reduce production loss from inundation events. With the solutions, farmer can also harness groundwater resources for farming. These special PVC solutions are in collaboration with SCG.

Moving Toward A Modern Agricultural Innovation Model of ASEAN

KUBOTA FARM has been established as a new farming experiences center since 2018, welcoming over 12,200 visitors to date. The official inauguration ceremony was held on 6 August 2020 with the goal of becoming ASEAN’s modern agricultural innovation model to enhance and increase production capability in ASEAN, the world’s leading food producer. This center also presents adaptation and planning approaches to tackle climate change, a major contributor to the future’s food scarcity crisis. The initiative also aims to help farmers reduce costs, increase productivities and earn more income with the New Theory, also the incorporation of IoT and agricultural machinery innovation or Smart Farming, a more precision method.