By DAISUKE WAKABAYASHI
MIYAKONOJO, Japan—More than three decades ago, Hideaki Shinpuku quit his job as a desk jockey in the research department of a Japanese textile company to pursue his dream of becoming a farmer.
Hideaki Shinpuku, president of Shinpuku Seika, uses 'cloud computing' to improve his farm's efficiency. Last year, it raised its cabbage output 12%.
Now the head of a commercial farm in the southern Japanese prefecture of Miyazaki, Mr. Shinpuku is back manning a desk with his eyes glued to a Web browser tracking every movement of his workers who handle 60 different fruits and vegetables across its 100 hectares.
"I don't want to do this. My eyes will get bad," said Mr. Shinpuku, the 58-year-old president of his commercial farm Shinpuku Seika, which is comprised of 300 different plots of land. "I put up with it, because the benefits are obvious. Without this computer, I can't do my job."
Shinpuku Seika is among the first farms to implement a Web-based "cloud computing" service developed by Japanese technology firm Fujitsu Ltd. Cloud computing is a loosely defined business term in which companies rent computing power from remote data centers via the Internet instead of buying machines to run software in house.
Shinpuku Seika has placed sensors out in its fields to collect readings on temperature, soil and moisture levels. Fujitsu's computers then crunch the data and recommend when to start planting or what crops may be well-suited to a specific field.
In the past, farmers would make those decisions based on experience, but Mr. Shinpuku says a data-driven approach prevents younger, less experienced staff from making mistakes that could cost the bottom line.
If Mr. Shinpuku wants to take a look at the crops for himself, he can call up online footage from the video cameras out in the fields. Workers can also take pictures on their mobile phones of potential problems like an infected crop. Those images are uploaded directly into the system so more experienced workers can diagnose the problem later.
The phones also come with Global Positioning System technology so the company can later analyze whether a worker is wasting time by taking an indirect route between fields or squandering too much time in a field.
The aim is to bring the concepts of lean manufacturing and continual improvement, or kaizen, to farming.
The system is already paying off for Shinpuku Seika, which generates about 1.5 billion yen ($18 million) in annual revenue. Last year, it doubled the size of its carrot harvest and raised its cabbage output by 12%.
Unlike the manufacturing or service industries, the Japanese farming sector has been slow to embrace technology services. But industry hardships are forcing some to turn to technology.
The demographics in Japan's farming industry are not bright. Many of its farmers are old and their children are not interested in taking over family farms. About 70% of Japanese farmers are older than 60 years old, while only 15% are younger than 50, according to data from Japan's Ministry of Agriculture, Forestry and Fisheries.
The Japanese government also is looking at joining a free-trade pact that could allow low-cost produce into the country and directly compete with domestic farmers, who have long been protected by high tariffs.
"For manufacturing, there is usually a manual that workers can follow and learn from. For farming, most of that information is locked in an experienced person's head," said Tomoaki Fukaya, a deputy general manager at Fujitsu's public policy division who works closely with Shinpuku Seika.
Fujitsu is working with six different farms on similar projects, but has no timetable for when the service will start. Fujitsu declined to say how much it plans to charge, but Mr. Shinpuku said he has invested between five million and six million yen to set up the service and pays an additional monthly fee.
At Shinpuku Seika, which employs 72 full- and part-time staff, workers use computers in the morning to check their schedule for that day. Then at an end-of-the-day employee meeting, Mr. Shinpuku analyzes everyone's work on a big screen based on GPS and sensor readings.
Fujitsu and Shinpuku are also working on image recognition software so if a field worker takes a picture of a crop that appears infected, the software can diagnose the problem and recommend a course of action on the spot.
For the 58-year-old Mr. Shinpuku, he said he looks forward to retirement so he can go back to farming on a small plot of land without the use of computers.
"I wouldn't worry about operating costs or wasting time," said Mr. Shinpuku with a laugh. "I want to get my hands dirty again."