Taking Fertilizer into the Future

The Disneyland amusement park in Shanghai abruptly suspended operations last month to comply with coronavirus measures.

Visitors were not allowed to leave the park for hours until tests proved negative.

Many other people are also frustrated, like this driver for a ride-hailing service in Shenzhen.

Restrictions preventing tourists from returning to the city have put a damper on business.

He says he can't make enough, even though he spends his holidays working.

"I do all I can to cut down on spending because I have to send money to my family back home."

Zhang's friend who owns a restaurant has a similar story.

"Numerous businesses have gone under.

It's so hard that there are no words to describe the situation."

"I've been bearing the tough virus controls for years.

I hope the authorities will change the way they do things."

Foreign businesses have also fallen victim to the policy as well.

Early this month, Apple said shipments of some of its latest iPhones will be reduced, as its assembly plant in Zhengzhou has cut back on production.

But the fight against the pandemic isn't the only problem China faces.

The property sector used to be a huge driver of growth.

Now it's now become a drag.

"It's really tough to sell real estate right now."

In a bid to cool the overheated market, the government stepped in two years ago to tighten lending to developers.

That left companies short of cash needed to complete apartments they had promised.

Sales are down dramatically, and the outlook is grim.

One expert says China's economy is in "crisis," and needs to address some major issues.

"The first one is how to get out of the zero Covid strategy in order to put back the economy on track.

And the second matter, the Chinese economy today is in a crisis.

The housing sector is in deep crisis, you have, you know, twenty percent unemployment among young people in China."

The coronavirus keeps flaring up around the country, and many places are imposing restrictions.

Some fear the situation could worsen as winter approaches.

President Xi's new leadership team will soon face its first major test.

At this national center, some of the most advanced medical research is being carried out on behalf of children.

An example is myoelectric prosthetics - artificial limbs controlled by electricity detected from muscle.

The most skillful user of a myoelectric hand is Yume, a first-grader who was born with a congenital disorder.

The hand is equipped with AI that allows her to open and close her fingers simply with her thoughts.

"She is learning to do so many things very quickly."

She can even take hold of round objects, like pens.

She first started wearing the hand about two and a half years ago.

She can now pick up items that are very small.

"Since I started using the hand, I can even dress dolls,
something I couldn't do before."

"We were all quite moved because she was able to open and close her hand just by using her thoughts."

Humans move their hands by sending faint electrical signals from the brain through a network of nerves that command the muscles.

Until now, the prosthetic hand was equipped with two sensors to read the signals.

That meant it could only read signals with large amplitudes.

The hand moved in simple ways.

Users needed considerable training to use the device.

But a hand equipped with the latest AI has three sensors that can detect signals humans emit naturally.

When the brain orders the hand to close, the AI learns the signals that are transmitted.

It stores this information to recognize the order to open the hand.

It can detect patterns, even if the signals are not exactly the same.

"Most of our patients are able to use the prosthetic hand immediately after trying it for the first time because the AI technology adapts the hand to each patient."

Yume has been taking on more and more complex tasks since she started wearing the hand.

"I wanted to place the band aid vertically!"

She's come up with her own ways to learn new skills.

Prosthetic hands for children are made with a 3D printer.

The have only a small motor to keep them to around 200 grams.

Only three fingers move.

But used properly, the hand can perform around 70% of the basic tasks of daily life.

"I think she will get used to the hand by wearing it from a young age, and it will become a part of her body as needed."

"I want to make the scissors in Rock Paper Scissors."

There are also more sophisticated AI myoelectric hands for adults.

The latest one has five motors, and all five fingers can move.

So the era may soon be here when people with disabilities can perform the full range of functions by using prosthetic devices that learn on the job.

Skyrocketing fertilizer prices are placing increased financial strain on farmers around the world.

Today's On-Site Report features a local Japanese sewage treatment plant that is able to turn sludge into a nutrient-rich low-cost fertilizer.

And an automated watering system that uses AI to regulate the distribution of both water and fertilizer to crops.

These people are gathered here to purchase fertilizer.

One reason for its popularity is its low cost.

The average price for 100kg of chemical fertilizer is over $100.

The fertilizer being sold here - about $1.40 for 100kg!

Just look at those prices!

The quality is really good!

That's the main reason I use it.

The fertilizer is produced and sold by the Saga City Sewage Purification Center.

During the treatment process, it filters and collects sludge, which it then converts into fertilizer.

Sludge naturally contains high levels of nitrogen and phosphorus which are key nutrients found in plant fertilizer.

The treatment plant started its fertilizer conversion project in 2009.

Its first hurdle was deciding how to deal with pathogens contained in the sludge that are unsuitable for use in fertilizer.

For example, bacteria such as E.coli and salmonella.

The answer was found in hyper-thermophilic bacteria.

When added to waste material, for a 50-day compositing period, temperatures will naturally rise to nearly 100°C...

Over extended durations, these temperatures are hot enough to kill harmful bacteria.

The purification center also regularly tests the fertilizer to make sure that the amount of heavy metals present, such as cadmium and mercury fall well below government standards.

The low-cost fertilizer hasn't just proven beneficial to local farmers.

Previously, the plant incinerated its sewage sludge it and would then pay for a private company to dispose of it.

This process cost the city of Saga approximately 1 million dollars per year.

By converting the sludge into fertilizer and selling it, the plant was able to reduce its costs by nearly $400,000 per year.

Producing 1,400 tons of fertilizer annually, the plant has consistently sold out since the project began.

This year, it has seen a sharp increase in demand, with orders for the month of September at 3x the monthly average.

I think the biggest factor is the rising cost of chemical fertilizers.

But since we're already have full production capacity, we have to put customers on a 2-week waitlist.

Asparagus farmer Takahashi Keiko uses the fertilizer on her 3,000 square meter plot.

It doesn't smell at all.

We mix it with rice husks and other ingredients to make our own special blend of fertilizer.

Switching from chemical fertilizer has helped her achieve significant savings.

This has saved us about $9,000 a year.

With this type of manure, we only need to use it once at the very beginning of the season, which saves a lot of time and effort when compared with chemical fertilizers.

In order to increase production capacity, the plant is expanding its facilities and will begin accepting organic waste from a local food manufacturer starting in April of 2023.

Eventually, we will reach our production limit, but we want continue providing high quality fertilizer while keeping our prices as low as possible.

Tomato farmer Nagashima Tomohisa's greenhouses look like most others, but his crops are watered and fertilized automatically.

It comes out almost like an IV drip, and it contains fertilizer that's been diluted into the water.

The automated system Nagashima is using is called "Zero Agri."

It makes use of multiple sensors imbedded within the soil.

They measure the temperature, moisture levels, and fertilizer concentration every 10 minutes.

That data is then transmitted to a cloud based management system.

Nagashima is able to select the desired water and fertilizer levels he would like the system to maintain based on the season as well as the variety of tomatoes being grown.

Using the soil data and sunlight forecasts, AI software then determines the ideal timing and the amount of water and fertilizer needed.

It then sends instructions to hardware located in the greenhouses which delivers the water and fertilizer to the crops via network of rubber tubing.

When it comes to water, I can tell the plants are getting too much or too little just by looking at them.

But I think even seasoned farmers would have trouble trying to do the same thing when it comes to fertilizer.

The system was developed by "Routrek" Networks' CEO, Sasaki Shinichi.

Most farmers just apply fertilizer based on their own senses or experience, so I am sure there is a lot of over-use happening.

The standard drip irrigation method of watering and fertilizing crops makes use of timer-based devices that require time and effort to manually set and reset

based off of precipitation, temperature, and other conditions.

Sasaki realized that if an AI-based system could be created to handle the daily management of watering and fertilizing, he could help farmers become much more efficient.

In order to make his idea a reality, he approached Ozawa Kiyoshi, a former university professor, to help him develop the AI system.

Ozawa specializes in research of farming and crop cultivation techniques that farmers can successfully apply on a practical level.

For example, previous research had shown that the peak fertilizer absorption times for most plants were around 12 p.m. and 8 p.m.

Ozawa's research verified these results, and revealed that concentrating the delivery of fertilizer around these peak times results in a higher absorption rate than applying a steady flow of fertilizer throughout the day.

Using AI will reduce the need for relying on humans to make decisions.

It will also help farmers to monitor crop growth, which will make their jobs easier.

Early testing of the system's effectiveness showed that fertilizer use can be reduced by as much 40% for cucumbers and up to 80% for tomatoes and strawberries.

This system doesn't just allow farmers to achieve optimal growth results, it also allows them to achieve significant savings by reducing over-usage of fertilizer.

Since launching in 2015, 330 Zero Agri Systems have been sold and installed throughout Japan.

In 2021, Sasaki formed a partnership with a major farmimg equipment manufacturer.

He hopes his partner's sales channels will help him to expand product exposure and increase sales.