KUBOTA SMART VILLAGE | Kubota Global Site

Envisioning a carbon-neutral future
and a recycling-based world

A Sustainable Society
in Harmony with Nature Connecting Food, Water,
and the Environment

Providing people all over the world with the food and water they need to live and the infrastructure that supports their lifestyles. Sustaining nature's cycles without burdening the environment, which is the foundation that supports our lives. And ensuring the sustainability of these for the future.
ꦐ KUBOTA SMART VILLAGE is a concept that connects solutions to achieve a prosperous society and cycle of nature.

Experience Kubota's Solutions

A Sustainable Platform Essential for Everyday Life

KUBOTA SMART VILLAGE is a concept that provides total solutions in the fields of food, water, and the environment, which are indispensable for people's daily lives, in aspects of both hardware and software using the latest technologies including AI and IoT. We will build a sustainable platform that realizes steps ranging from food production to distribution and sales, water purification and reuse, and waste treatment and recycling.

SOLUTION | 01

Smart Agriculture Solution

Utilizing ICT, robotics technologies, and AI, this solution realizes ultra-labor-saving through automation of agricultural machinery and improves crop quality and productivity through data-driven precision farming.

And from those who make the food to those who eat it, the system will realize a sustainable food value chain using a platform that connects all food-related people, things, and information. This will also help to reduce food loss.

SOLUTION | 02

Smart Water Solution

From upstream/downstream infrastructure to river and agricultural water management, water product data obtained through IoT will be utilized in the best possible ways using AI. From pipeline management to equipment management, we will contribute to building a water and environmental infrastructure that is both sustainable and resilient to natural disasters.

SOLUTION | 03

Resource Circulation Solution

Waste generated from agriculture, industrial activities, and everyday life is sorted at advanced levels using AI. By recovering and reusing valuable metals and energy from waste, we will reduce environmental impact and help to build a circular economy and achieve carbon neutrality.

Solving the World's Food, Water, and Environmental Issues and Addressing Megatrends

Food, water, and the environment: These are the foundations of our daily lives, but the circumstances surrounding them are becoming more serious and more complex worldwide. In light of this, what are the issues that Kubota seeks to resolve? Here we explain the vision of a society that the KUBOTA SMART VILLAGE will achieve.

Global Population Approaches 10 Billion
Severe Food-related Issues

The world's population is expected to grow from 8 billion in 2022 to 9.7 billion in 2050, and then to 11 billion by 2100.^*1💜 This growth, along with economic development, will impact the lives of people in a variety of ways.

*1. United Nations "World Population Prospects 2022"

First, global demand for food is projected to reach 1.7 times the 2010 levels in 2050.^*2🐼 Demand for productivity and efficiency improvements in farming will also increase.

*2. Ministry of Agriculture, Forestry and Fisheries, "Global Demand for Food in 2050 (September 2019)"

Aging Farming Populations and Labor Shortages

Aging farming populations and labor shortages are worldwide issues for the agriculture that provides food. In Japan, 2.60 million people were engaged in agriculture in 2010, but only 1.68 million in 2019. Of the latter number, 1.18 million (about 70%) were age 65 or older, the average age being 67.^*1

*1. Employment in Agriculture, The World Bank (September 2019 data)

Increasing Global Demand for Water and Aging Infrastructure

Along with food, water demand is increasing globally each year as the population grows. This demand is projected to increase by about 55%^*1 from 2000 levels to 2050.

*1. OECD Environmental Outlook to 2050（2012）

Meanwhile, the aging of the infrastructure that provides this water supply has become an issue in recent years, particularly in developed countries. Even in Japan, which has a high rate of water supply penetration, most of the pipelines were laid during the postwar economic growth period. The percentage of pipelines that have exceeded their legally designated 40-year service life is increasing every year. The United States and Europe are also facing similar issues.^*1

*1：American Society of Civil Engineers 2017 Infrastructure Report Card
✅*2. Ministry of Health, Labour and Welfare, "Recent Trends in Waterworks Administration" (December 2021)

The Four Megatrends in Kubota’s Focus

To realize Kubota's vision of a prosperous society and cycle of nature, we believe we must respond to these kinds of issues as well as megatrends that cause major changes throughout the world. Kubota focuses on four megatrends: two in particular are carbon neutrality, which is our 2050 goal, and a circular economy, which achieves both economic growth and resource circulation.

Collaboration and Recycling Generate New Value

Kubota's business domains are food, water, and the environment. They are intricately connected, and they impact our daily lives. We see them not as separate concerns, but as a whole, and by collaborating on solutions and recycling resources, we provide new value to society.

Big Data Above and Below Ground Enabling Collaboration on Solutions

Through our businesses in food, water, and the environment, Kubota has accumulated expertise and data in various fields over the years.

From agricultural information such as climate, soil, and farming operations that we have gathered through development of agricultural machinery, to various kinds of water-related information from water quality management and infrastructure building, we have acquired big data on food, water, and the environment in the range several meters above and below ground.

We are building the platforms to connect this big data and utilize it in multiple solutions across our business domains using AI.

By linking solutions that perceive food, water, and the environment as a single whole, we will generate a synergy effect that leads to new solutions and new value.

Experience How Solutions are Connected

One-Stop Hardware & Software Solution

Along with information accumulated over the years from our food, water, and environment businesses, Kubota's IoT-equipped agricultural machinery and water infrastructure products collect the latest data on farm work details and operating conditions.

This information is fed back to the data linkage platform so that our stock of big data several meters above and below ground is always up to date. This improves the precision of our forecasting and control capabilities.

We develop and manufacture both the software, including our data linkage platform, as well as the hardware, including machines that operate in the field, and we connect this hardware and software. Our advantage in being able to provide this one-stop service is also being applied in the KUBOTA SMART VILLAGE.

Recycling Resources for a Prosperous Society and Lower Environmental Burden

To achieve both prosperity in society and the recycling of resources, the KUBOTA SMART VILLAGE provides solutions that circulate various types of resources to use them more effectively.

Kubota's water and environment solutions are involved in steps in the water cycle from intake to discharge, providing the foundation for safety and security in water processes.

Kubota uses IoT and data to efficiently utilize water and to monitor, diagnose, control, and predict issues with water infrastructure. This contributes to problem-solving and improvements in the cycle.

Waste generated through agricultural work and water treatment will also be recycled as energy and resources using Kubota sorting and processing technologies. We will effectively utilize our limited and precious recourses to realize a sustainable society that places less burden on the environment.

Experience Circulation and Utilization of Resources

As an “Essentials Innovator for Supporting Life,” Kubota will Realize a Prosperous Society and Cycle of Nature

KUBOTA SMART VILLAGE is a society that realizes Kubota's vision of a Prosperous Society and Cycle of Nature. It offers thoughtful solutions to each issue that communities face, and will expand gradually from towns to cities, countries, regions, and eventually throughout the Earth. We believe this will lead to the realization of sustainable communities where people can live with peace of mind. As an “Essentials Innovator for Supporting Life,” supporting food, water, and the environment, which are the foundations essential for people's daily lives, Kubota aims to realize a prosperous society and cycle of nature.