OREANDA-NEWS. Next month, JA Group Aichi (a branch of Japan Agricultural Cooperatives) will start using a cloud-based agricultural IT management service developed by Toyota Motor Corporation. The service, created primarily for businesses, will available to farms under the umbrella of the JA Group in Aichi Prefecture, and will be provided by Toyota Media Service Corporation.

Toyota's service is cloud-based, and can be easily accessed using a smartphone or tablet. It was created to help boost agricultural productivity using Toyota's experience with production control systems and process improvements in the automotive industry. Using a database of information related to rice fields and cultivation work, the service can automatically generate daily work plans that optimize the actions of multiple people over multiple fields.

Since April 2014, nine rice growing agricultural enterprises in Aichi and Ishikawa prefectures have been using this service, and this year, the service will be introduced for a trial period at four farms in Aichi Prefecture. Full-scale rollout across Aichi Prefecture is planned from 2016 onward.

JA Group Aichi and Toyota will offer support to farms during the introduction of this service (such as assistance in carrying out cloud-based registration of farmland information). In addition, Toyota will provide advice about improving on-site work methods, while JA Group Aichi will develop performance improvement plans for farms.

An important role of JA Group Aichi is to provide members with advice about cultivation and productivity. The rice growing industry is currently responding to a challenging business environment, due in part to low prices and the end of rice growing targets from 2018. Toyota's service supports this role by giving farmers access to detailed data about production results and the usage of agricultural machinery, in addition to providing individually tailored advice on a variety of topics such as efficient use of resources and consolidation of land.