The new AI-based solution from NEC and Kagome is useful for both individual growers as well as tomato processing companies in improving their yield while reducing the usage of resources

NEC Kagomre

Image: NEC and Kagome partner on improving tomato yields. (Credit: Pixabay/Dominika karkika.)

NEC, a Japanese IT and electronics firm, has partnered with Kagome, a manufacturer of tomato-based foods, to launch artificial intelligence (AI)-based agricultural management support service to improve tomato yield.

The new service will use NEC’s CropScope, an AI-based agricultural information and communications technology (ICT) platform.

The platform will visualise tomato growth and soil conditions based on sensor data and satellite images and offer farming management recommendation services.

The new AI-based service will also offer data on the best timing and amounts of irrigation and fertiliser for healthy crops while environmentally sustainable agriculture is practised, without depending on the skill of individual growers.

Kagome smart agri division general manager Kengo Nakata said: “Kagome has been developing agricultural management support technologies using big data in collaboration with NEC since 2015, with the aim of realising environmentally friendly and highly profitable agricultural management in the cultivation of tomatoes for processing on a global basis.”

Tomato processing companies can also use the service for gaining a comprehensive understanding of efficient growing conditions for tomato production on their own farms along with their contract growers.

They can also optimally manage crop harvest orders across all fields based on the data provided by the service, helping them to reduce yield loss and in improving productivity.

NEC corporate business development division general manager Masamitsu Kitase said: “NEC is pleased to have signed a strategic partnership agreement with Kagome.

“NEC aims to realise a sustainable agriculture that can respond flexibly to global social issues on climate change and food safety. By combining Kagome’s farming know-how with NEC’s AI technology, we will realize sustainable agriculture.”

Kagome to launch new Smart Agri Division next month

Kagome plans to establish a Smart Agri Division next month, targeting customers in Europe. The company aims to expand its business to worldwide markets later on.

NEC and Kagome have been under an agricultural collaboration since 2015 and last year, the two companies conducted demonstrations across regions such as Portugal, Australia and the US.