Tuesday, August 7, 2012

No. 582: Cloud computing for better agricultural management (August 7, 2012)

Technology:
Fujitsu will launch a cloud computing service to increase the efficiency of agricultural management this October. The system is named Akisai that means colors of autumn. It keeps and analyzes data on field jobs and crop images for more crop yields and better crop quality. Because the system is cloud computing, the user can manage it by PC, smartphone, or tablet PC. The basic plan designed for a team of five people is 40,000 yen per month besides the initial cost of 50,000 yen. The company plans to sell the service to organizations eager to increase the management efficiency like agricultural associations, distributors of agricultural products, and restaurant chains.

In the field, workers record such data as working hours, fertilizers used, and growing condition, and transmit them to Fujitsu’s data center. They can monitor such data as crop situation, cost, and profitability using their PCs in their office. Companies involved in the distribution of agricultural products have to pay 100,000 per month for the service. They can unify management of such data as production plan and expected crop yields of each contract farmer and growth situation for better and smoother procurement. Fujitsu has been conducting experiments of the system since 2008 in 10 agricultural production corporations, and successfully increased the crop yields of cabbage by 30%. Following Fujitsu, NEC will also launch a cloud computing service to monitor the cultivation in the greenhouse shortly. 

Fujitsu’s cloud computing service for
more crop yields and higher crop quality

No comments:

Post a Comment