The Problem with Japanese Robot Farms

Spread, one of the biggest lettuce production companies in Japan, believes that the farmers of the future are robots. As a matter of fact, it is creating the first robot-run farm in the world, which is set to open in 2017. The farm will not only increase the amount of lettuce produced, but also reduce labor costs by 50 percent, use 30 percent less energy and recycle 98 percent of the water used to maintain the crops. Doesn’t that sound like a great idea?

A robot-run farm is environmental, but it also greatly impacts the Japanese farmers, whom have been slowly dying out—their average ages have risen to 70 years old in the past five years. Their younger generations are also being pulled to the city by the jobs that pay more. To add insult to injury, on Feb. 4, Japan signed a free trade agreement called the Trans-Pacific Partnership (TPP), one between 12 countries. The agreement states that the partnership “writes the rules for global trade—rules that will help increase Made-in-America exports, grow the American economy, support well-paying American jobs and strengthen the American middle class.” It covers everything from intellectual property to environmental protection. In terms of agriculture, the agreement is to export American products for less money to more countries; for instance, by lowering trade barriers such as tariffs. This reduction of tariffs would greatly benefit the restaurant and consumer industry, but may cause the farming industry of Japan to fall.

Masao Matsumura, a 65-year-old farmer with a pork farm of 3,500 pigs, said that ham and sausage makers prefer to use inexpensive, foreign meats to make their products. An influx of foreign products—meats, in this case—would greatly influence smallholders like Matsumura in their competition with the cheaper, foreign meats. This would, essentially, drive them out of business.

“Large producers with 5,000 to 10,000 pigs will acquire small farms abandoned by old farmers,” Matsumura said.

These developments, added with the new robot-run farm created by Spread, will collapse the traditional Japanese farming industries.

It is because of instances like these that Japan was unwilling to enter the TPP in the first place. The widely-accepted notion that “Japanese farmers would not be able to compete with overseas rivals on equal footing,” explains why the government has traditionally been reluctant to “open up to domestic agricultural market[s].” This hesitance has always held Japan back from entering free-trade agreements, so the successful negotiations resulting in thirteen chapter consisting of the TPP was a significant step for Japan.

These developments, added with the new robot-run farm created by Spread, will collapse the traditional Japanese farming industries. The farm will have humans planting some of the lettuce seeds, but besides that, all the other jobs—including planting seeds, watering plants and trimming lettuce heads—are done by the robots. Not only will 50 percent of the farmers lose their jobs from this new plan, but they will also severely suffer from the TPP agreements.

J.J. Price, Spread’s global marketing manager, claims that the farm’s aim is not to replace human farmers, but to have a farm where machines and humans work together efficiently and effectively. “We want to generate interest in farming, particularly among young people,” Price said.

However, what he must mean by that, is the role of scientist with the crops. Spread is currently developing sensors to provide data on how specific crops grow and to alert the human workers if the crop is not growing properly, so that they can adjust their techniques accordingly. This is not the role of a farmer; this is the role of a scientist. Therefore, Spread is taking away the jobs of young farmers, and replacing them with scientists instead. And, they plan on building more robotic farms in Japan. Then, eventually, overseas.

All in all, the TPP and the new idea of “robot-run farms” are great ideas to increase global trading and make farming more efficient. However, it’s all at the expense of Japanese farmers, and will cause the traditional Japanese agricultural industries to collapse.