New agreement on farmin with Tohoku University

Tohoku Univ., Fukushima village ink pact to rev up farming

http://www.fukushimaminponews.com/news.html?id=742

22 October 2016

Tohoku University’s Graduate School of Agricultural Science and the village of Katsurao in Fukushima Prefecture concluded on Oct. 21 a partnership agreement for restoration from the 2011 Great East Japan Earthquake. It is the first such accord signed by the school with a prefectural municipality. The agreement calls for technological development, including the use of information and communications technology in agricultural machinery, to help revitalization of the local farming and livestock sector battered by the disaster.

Under the agreement, the school will embark on research and testing using farmland in the village on such themes as growing rice plants organically and promoting recycle-oriented livestock agriculture in which biomass energy is produced from cattle feces for electric power generation. The project will seek to reduce the workload on farmers in organic agriculture by developing equipment such as sensors capable of monitoring farmland conditions through remote control and machines that automatically eradicate weeds.

A signing ceremony was held on the day at the village office, with Katsurao Mayor Masahide Matsumoto and the graduate school's Dean Michio Komai exchanging documents. Matsumoto expressed hope that the outcome of research and development “will motivate farmers to undertake agriculture.” Komai said the school expects the project to “contribute to revitalizing the disaster-affected area through the development of agricultural technology and others.”

Meanwhile, the graduate school set up the same day a branch office in the village of its Tohoku Agricultural Science Center for Reconstruction. The office, located at the village's revitalization center, will be used for professors and students to undertake research in Katsurao.

(Translated by Kyodo News)