Potential for Sensing Technologies to Contribute to Smart Agriculture

Thepresidentpost.id - The temperature and the sea level are rising due to climate change. That is causing droughts to increase. On the other hand, damage from heavy rains is also increasing. These problems have various negative impacts on oceans and land around the world. Above all, the negative impact on the soil is damaging agriculture in that it stops becoming possible to grow plants.

This is a blow to the stable supply of food. It is also necessary to take measures as soon as possible on the adversely affected soil to realize sustainable agriculture.

The tsunami resulting from the Great East Japan Earthquake in 2011 caused extensive damage to agricultural land in Japan. There were concerns about salt damage to crops due to seawater intrusion. Therefore, desalination work on the affected agricultural land was carried out over a wide area as part of the project to recover from the disaster.

A demonstration test was also conducted to observe the salinity utilizing soil sensors on agricultural land after desalination. What is the potential for sensing technologies to contribute to agriculture? We spoke with Hitoshi Kanno, a former associate professor at the Graduate School of Tohoku University, about an overview of the desalination work and the use of sensing technologies in smart agriculture.

What Damage Does Global Warming Cause to Soil and Agricultural Produce?

 Salt damage is said to cause serious damage to agriculture. How important is soil to agriculture?

Potential for Sensing Technologies to Contribute to Smart Agriculture (Restoration of Agricultural Land in Tohoku): Power of Soil Sensors to Facilitate the Acquisition of Big Data in Agriculture.

The temperature and the sea level are rising due to climate change. That is causing droughts to increase. On the other hand, damage from heavy rains is also increasing. These problems have various negative impacts on oceans and land around the world. Above all, the negative impact on the soil is damaging agriculture in that it stops becoming possible to grow plants.

This is a blow to the stable supply of food. It is also necessary to take measures as soon as possible on the adversely affected soil to realize sustainable agriculture.

The tsunami resulting from the Great East Japan Earthquake in 2011 caused extensive damage to agricultural land in Japan. There were concerns about salt damage to crops due to seawater intrusion. Therefore, desalination work on the affected agricultural land was carried out over a wide area as part of the project to recover from the disaster. A demonstration test was also conducted to observe the salinity utilizing soil sensors on agricultural land after desalination.

What is the potential for sensing technologies to contribute to agriculture? We spoke with Hitoshi Kanno, a former associate professor at the Graduate School of Tohoku University, about an overview of the desalination work and the use of sensing technologies in smart agriculture.

What Damage Does Global Warming Cause to Soil and Agricultural Produce?

Salt damage is said to cause serious damage to agriculture. How important is soil to agriculture?

There are soils that are suitable for crop production and those that are not. Although we simply say "suitable for crop production," there are various factors to consider. In terms of physical aspects, for example, it is important that the soil drains well and that there are no problems with the root growth . Moreover, it is important to be able to properly supply the nourishing water required by produce in terms of chemical aspects.

Furthermore, importance is attached to diversity of microbes and living things in avoiding unbalanced properties so that only specific pathogens reproduce in terms of biological aspects.

In fact, it is not simple to be able to categorize soil like that. The properties of soil suitable for agriculture change depends on the purpose.

Please tell us what kind of research you are conducting specifically in your specialty of soil science.

Soil science is a discipline that promotes research from the aspects of how soil is formed, what it is comprised of, what characteristics it has, and how to use it. Among those issues, my area of expertise is soil fertilizer science. I have mainly conducted research on how plant growth and nutrient absorption changes through the interaction between soil and crops.

Climate change is spreading around the world due to the impact of global warming. Against this backdrop, what kind of issues are there in terms of soil science?

Water damage caused by heavy rain and other elements is often associated with global warming in Japan. On the other hand, there are also regions in the world concerned about a decrease in rainfall due to the impact of climate change. Salt accumulation in the soil and salt damage to crops have become problems in these regions.

 Why does salt damage occur when there is little rain?

In humid areas - where rain falls throughout the year, the amount of rainwater is greater than the amount of water that evaporates from the surface of the ground. This means that salt is less likely to remain in the soil. However, in semi-arid areas, the amount of underground water that rises up and then evaporates from the surface of the ground is greater than the amount of rainwater.

As a result, the salt contained in the underground water comes to a halt near the surface of the ground (salt accumulation) and that becomes the cause of salt damage to crops. Inadequate irrigation may also cause salt accumulation in agricultural land.

 When salt damage occurs, the properties of the soil change. That also affects the growth of agricultural produce.

The main effects of salt damage on agricultural produce are that moisture absorption by agricultural produce is inhibited and that the nutrient balance is greatly disrupted due to the impact of the salinity accumulated in the soil. Therefore, crops stop being able to properly absorb the nourishing water they need.

The physical and biological properties of the soil may also be affected. Accordingly, if salt accumulates, the soil becomes unsuitable for crop production.