CASE STUDY AN EXAMPLE TO FOLLOW A country at the forefront Japan, where commercial drone technology has been on the market since the late 1970s, can be described as the motherland of agricultural drone use. In fact, it was one of the earliest countries in the world to adopt drones, robots, and AI in the agriculture sector, and the market of these products is booming. Not surprisingly, in 1983 it was Japanese farmers who pioneered the use of drones for the aerial application of fertilisers. Advantages Japanese farmers realised that employing aircrafts had many advantages: it enabled more efficiency and precision; it increased crop output and income; it saved time when spraying pesticides and monitoring crop conditions; farmers could be protected from prolonged exposure to potentially harmful chemicals; the physical burden was eased, productivity was increased and youth migration to urban areas was reduced. Japanese agriculture was being affected by a decrease in the number of farmers due to ageing and young people’s avoidance of labour-intensive work; a drone could apply pesticides and fertiliser to a rice field in about 15 minutes, instead of taking more than an hour by hand; compared to larger radio-controlled minihelicopters with spray equipment, a drone is smaller and cheaper; the small-scale land use in Japan was well adapted to the use of drones: due to poorly accessible terrain and the extensive use of manual labour, the potential for increasing output in agricultural production was high. For all of the above reasons, the acceptance and use of drone technology in Japan is around 70% and thus far higher than for example in the USA (at about 40%), which has large agricultural land on easily accessible terrain. Government support Most importantly, in recent years, Japan’s government has demonstrated a commitment to the drone industry: it has actively promoted a campaign for vocational high schools to begin offering drone and robotics courses. Moreover, it has reformed its outdated legislation to make the new technologies more easily available for farming operations. Adapted from: transforming-to-save-agriculture https://viewpoints.dji.com/blog/japan-dronelaws- How long has the drone technology been on the market in Japan When did Japanese farmers start using drones for aerial application of fertilisers? What were the advantages of using aircraft in farming? 4. Do students in Japanese vocational high schools receive suitable training in new technologies? 7 Answer the questions. 1. 2. 3. Source: MAFF Agriculture Drone Expansion Plan