The ongoing monitoring of crops is essential to ensuring the steady cultivation of agricultural produce so that fertiliser and other agricultural chemicals can be applied appropriately.
If wheat is harvested too early, additional energy and costs may be incurred in the drying process due to the excess water content.
In contrast, if harvesting is done too late, the risk increases that rain may cause the grain to germinate, resulting in lost commercial value of the crop. The timing of the harvest is crucial. The consistent change in weather patterns and unpredictable conditions make it increasingly harder to judge and increases the risk of human error.
The effectiveness of GeoMation* Agriculture Information Management System for reducing CO2 emissions was estimated using Hitachi's SI-LCA (System Integration Life-Cycle Assessment) methodology for evaluating environmental impact. The methodology evaluates the extent to which the impact on the environment is reduced over the entire life cycle. It covers procurement, design and development, dispatch, transport, installation, on-site work, maintenance, and use of the system, disposal, and recycling at user's side. The SI-LCA methodology complies with the guidelines collated by the Japan Forum on Eco-Efficiency *2.
A case study of before and after the implementation of the system, covering 53 square kilometres with a wheat harvest of 24,872 tonnes, resulted in an annual reduction in CO2 emissions of approximately 33% over the entire lifecycle.
*2 - 2005 environmental efficiency assessment guidelines for ICT (information and communication technology).
GeoMation* Agriculture Information Management System has won numerous awards. One of these awards includes the Eco-products Prize, which is awarded to products or services that help reduce the impact on the environment and are innovative and highly regarded in terms of their impact on society. It is believed that the system will continue to make a contribution to the agriculture industry. The system is already in use at more than 40 sites in Japan with the intention of reducing the impact on the global environment and reducing CO2 emissions. The goal is to use the system to support agriculture in other countries based on the Japanese agricultural experience derived from these sites.
* GeoMation® is a registered trade mark of Hitachi Solutions, Ltd in Japan
| Corporate / Office Name | Hitachi Australia Pty Ltd |
|---|---|
| Address | Suite 801, Level 8, 123, Epping Road, North Ryde NSW 2113 Australia |
| Tel | +61 2 9888 4100 or 1800 HITACHI |
| Fax | +61 2 9888 4188 |
