Initiatives by local support organizations

Established to provide support for “People, Farmland, and Management,” Ishikawa New Agriculture Total Support Organization (INATO) is a public interest incorporated foundation. The signing of the Comprehensive Agricultural Partnership Agreement between Ishikawa Prefecture and Komatsu in 2013 marked the start of a new agricultural initiative using agricultural bulldozers.

Immediately after the earthquake, farmers in Noto reported fissures, soil subsidence and uplifted ground on their farmland. If this state remained unresolved, the paddy fields would not be able to hold water for rice cultivation. Faced with the scale and diversity of challenges, they were at a loss where to start.

While not a few farmers may have almost lost their passion for farming when confronted with the damage to fields caused by the earthquake, they held onto a solitary glimmer of hope that their farmlands would be restored as quickly as possible, and rice cultivation could be resumed as usual. Achieving this goal was the top priority of the local support organizations.

Komatsu and local support organizations have cooperated in the past to advance initiatives using agricultural bulldozers. After the disaster, they conducted field fissure repair tests and shared the results with farmers in the affected areas. They also assisted farmers in filling fissures and sinkholes in rice paddies and other farmland and pastures.

Rin Kudo, Ishikawa New Agriculture Total Support Organization (INATO)

I am convinced that agricultural bulldozers equipped with ICT will make a great contribution to advancing the smart agriculture promoted by INATO.
Even inexperienced farmers can easily operate them, so I would like to expand the scope of application even further. As the agricultural population declines in the future, not only agricultural bulldozers but also automatic control and other ICT technologies will be essential to make agricultural work more efficient.
What our industry needs most now may be manpower.
I hope to see the emergence of people who are ready to lead agriculture through these challenges in areas across Japan.
The earthquake certainly caused great damage, but if farmers take advantage of this recovery to establish a foothold on the future and take on larger farmland divisions and transformation of production methods, the future of agriculture in Noto will be bright.