I was interviewed by writer Junichi Maeshiro about how I became interested in agriculture and my future prospects. (The terrace at the nearby Kurukuma Cafe has a beautiful view of Kutaka Island on a beautiful sunny day.)

As we look forward to the article, we thought about the future of “food” as a result of the interview.

– Fifty percent of the habitable area of the earth is farmland, 80% of which is used for cattle (meat) and 20% for agriculture (vegetables). We are no longer able to continue to take up such a large area of the earth’s water resources and emit CO2 in order to eat.

– Water is the most important factor in both pastoralism and agriculture, and water waste is accelerating global warming. Pastoralism (meat production) uses 70% of the world’s water. One way to reduce this is to eat less meat and more protein (soybeans), but the development of cultured meat through genome editing is urgently needed.

He focuses on Motif FoodWorks, a spin-out from Ginkgo Bioworks, a biotech company founded by MIT scientists.

– In addition, for efficient agriculture, it is essential for farming to be IT-enabled in the way of droppings (irrigation). Data on the growth of leaves, stems, and roots is used to drop organic liquid fertilizer.

As urbanization continues to increase, we should keep an eye on the expansion of vertical farming using hydroponics technology, which does not require soil. Notable companies include Appharvest, which operates a plant factory in Kentucky that is equivalent to 5.5 Tokyo Domes. Vertical farming eliminates the need for pesticides because the plants are grown in a completely closed environment. Water use is also reduced. Vertical farming requires 90% less water to grow crops than traditional farming.

Agriculture is an IT industry.

IT technology will enable farmers to monitor soil and sky moisture content and precisely water the soil. This will improve grain growth, increase yields, eliminate human hunger, and increase the likelihood of reducing global warming.

To achieve this, corporate agility (speediness) will be the key, and agility will be a major weapon for companies.