Ministers from the Group of Seven nations agreed Sunday to promote agricultural innovation and investment as farmers face the twin challenges of an aging workforce and extreme weather at a time when global food demand is increasing.
"Motivated, skilled and enterprising farmers are essential for the growth of the agricultural sector," the ministers said in a joint statement after two days of meetings focused on food security in Niigata Prefecture. "We will help farmers enhance their capability and skills" by facilitating access to information and communication technologies, precision farming and agricultural innovations, they said.
U.S. Agriculture Secretary Tom Vilsack has warned that left unchecked, aging farmers could threaten the ability to produce the food the world needs. The average age of growers in developed countries is now about 60, according to the United Nations. At the meeting, Agriculture minister Hiroshi Moriyama outlined his idea of replacing retiring growers with Japanese-developed autonomous tractors and backpack-mounted robots, as the average age of farmers here reaches 67.