2026-09-03 –, Ran1
This presentation introduces how GIS is currently used in agriculture in Hokkaido. We also present Hokuren’s initiatives and future plans for utilizing FOSS4G technologies, particularly QGIS, to support agricultural data management and farm operations.
Hokkaido is one of the regions that supports Japan’s food production. However, the number of farmers has been decreasing, while the area of cultivated land managed by each farmer has been increasing. Under these conditions of large-scale farming, improving operational efficiency and reducing labor through effective data utilization has become increasingly important.
Geographic Information Systems (GIS) provide useful tools for managing field-level agricultural data. GIS enables the integration and visualization of diverse datasets, including planting and work records, remote sensing data, and weather data. By linking these datasets through spatial information, GIS supports data integration and facilitates decision-making in farm management. In recent years, GIS-based farming support tools have gradually become more widespread in Japan.
Hokuren is a federation of Agricultural cooperatives in Hokkaido. We operate a Sales Business supplying agricultural and livestock products produced in Hokkaido to domestic and international markets. In addition, Hokuren carries out Purchasing Business and Farming Support Activities to assist agricultural producers.
Through its farming support activities, Hokuren works to address challenges at agricultural production sites by utilizing various technologies. In particular, geospatial technologies have the potential to support farm management by enabling the integration of diverse agricultural data. However, the practical adoption of such technologies in agricultural production sites remains limited due to gaps between field-level needs and available IT solutions.
To address this issue, we aim to utilize Free and Open Source Software for Geospatial (FOSS4G), particularly QGIS, as a platform for developing practical tools that support agricultural production sites. QGIS provides a flexible and extensible environment that enables the integration, visualization, and management of agricultural data. In this presentation, we discuss our approach to bridging agriculture and IT through QGIS-based solutions and explore the development of user-friendly tools that can be applied in real agricultural production environments.
QGIS
I make my conference contribution available under the CC BY 4.0 license. The conference contribution comprises the abstract, the text contribution for the conference proceedings, the presentation materials as well as the video recording and live transmission of the presentation:
Yuhi Yamamoto works at Hokuren, a member of the Hokkaido JA Group, where he is involved in farming support activities. His work focuses on the use of GIS and geospatial technologies to support agricultural production. He is particularly interested in applying FOSS4G tools such as QGIS to improve agricultural data management and bridge the gap between agricultural production sites and IT technologies.