The Future of [ Resources ] Sustainable Resource Utilization. Kubota’s Resource Circulation Solutions. Resource depletion. Increasing global population. Ceaseless global warming. Kubota’s technologies tackle these issues for a better future.

Resource Circulation Solutions Vision Establishing a Resource Circulation System that Recovers All Resources.

If we want to continue maintaining our ways of life, we must secure resources without harming the Earth. This is not limited to the underground reserves represented by minerals. We must secure a wider variety of resources at the elemental level without shortages, such as fertilizers that nurture the food we need to survive. The key to achieving this is the various wastes generated through the day-by-day economic activities and people’s lives. Kubota will help protect the Earth’s future through Resource Circulation Solutions that recover valuable resources, which are the source of metals and fertilizers, and return them to society as usable resources or low-environmental-impact energy.

Kubota Will Promote Resource Circulation to Ensure an Abundant Earth Forever.

Resource Circulation Solutions TECNOLOGY #01 The Looming Limits of the Earth.

There is a term called “planetary boundaries,” which means the “limits of the Earth.” This concept indicates that certain global environmental boundaries must not be exceeded if people are to continue living on the Earth, and there are nine major categories of boundaries. The latest research results indicate that six of the nine categories have already been exceeded, including “biogeochemical flows” of nitrogen and phosphorus and “climate change” caused by greenhouse gas concentrations such as carbon dioxide. *It is no exaggeration to say that continuing to live on the Earth has become increasingly impossible. However, there is currently no other planet on which we can live. With the global population continuing to rise, protecting all precious life on the Earth has become increasingly difficult. * “Earth beyond six of nine planetary boundaries,” SCIENCE ADVANCES (2023)

Saving the Earth and All Life from Crisis. Kubota Can Do Something About It.

Resource Circulation Solutions TECNOLOGY #02 Resources that Are Supposed to Sustain Food Are Threatening Life and the Earth.

Food is essential for sustaining life, and fertilizers such as nitrogen and phosphorus are required to cultivate food. However, phosphorus ore, the source of phosphorus fertilizer, is said to be depleted within the next 100 years at the earliest*. On the other hand, technological innovations have led to the mass production of artificial fertilizers since the 20th century. With the global population expected to continue rising, the mass production of artificial fertilizers while using large amounts of energy will become even more prevalent.

Normally, nitrogen and phosphorus applied as fertilizers are circulated through natural processes. Yet, it is said that the current Earth has already far exceeded the amount that can be naturally recycled and is nearing its planetary boundary. In addition, we cannot ignore the effects of climate change as the soil that cannot circulate the excess nutrients is causing pest infestation, deteriorating crop quality, which contradicts the purpose of food production, and the runoff from the soil to groundwater and river pollutes the environment, destroying the ecosystem and changing into greenhouse gases.

Kubota, in addition to providing agricultural machinery and systems for optimal fertilizer application, such as variable fertilization that prevents excessive fertilizer application, has developed a technology to recover phosphorus from sewage sludge after sewage treatment by applying our accumulated melting technology. This not only helps to secure phosphorus resources stably, but the superior retention properties of the recovered phosphorus fertilizer over artificial fertilizers significantly reduce the amount of phosphorus fertilizer application. * “Phosphorus: A Looming Crisis,” SCIENTIFIC AMERICAN(2009)

Reducing Global Impact. To Return the Earth to the Way It Should Be. Kubota Will Also Promote Resource Circulation, Starting with Food Production, for the Earth’s Future.

Resource Circulation Solutions TECNOLOGY #03 A Resource Circulation Method that Can Be Achieved by a Major Rice-producing Country.

Climate change caused by greenhouse gas concentrations, which also leads to disrupting the nitrogen and phosphorus cycles, is also reaching its planetary boundary. While industrial development and economic growth fueled by oil, coal, and other underground resources have significantly impacted energy consumption, the agricultural sector, including land use, in fact, accounts for about 24 percent of the world’s greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions*. National Agriculture and Food Research Organization (NARO) (2020)

Kubota, which contributes to reducing CO2 emissions from the agricultural sector by promoting the fully automated electric tractor and smart agriculture, focuses on rice straws to encourage resource circulation in Japan. About 7.5 million tons of rice straws are discarded in Japan yearly, of which about 650 thousand tons are plowed into farmlands. The plowed straws do become fertilizers; however, they also cause a problem of generating tremendous amounts of methane gas, which is said to have 25 times the greenhouse effect of CO2. To tackle this, Kubota leverages our proprietary methane fermentation technology to extract liquid fertilizers from the straws, removing only the elements that become methane gas. In addition to reducing greenhouse emissions, the extracted liquid fertilizer is returned to the farmland as a substitute for chemical fertilizers such as nitrogen and phosphorus. This, in turn, reduces the burden on the nitrogen and phosphorus cycle. Furthermore, efforts are underway to recycle biogas obtained from methane fermentation as a resource for electricity and biofuels such as hydrogen to promote its use locally.

Not Only Reducing Environmental Impact from Agriculture but Also Leveraging Its Resources. Kubota, which Supports the World’s Agriculture, Will Continue Searching for Better Resource Circulation Methods.

Resource Circulation Solutions TECNOLOGY #04 Realizing a Circular Economy by Regarding All Waste as Resources.

People have continually sought more affluence in their lifestyles. Through over-production and over-consumption, we have a history of pursuing more abundance than we need with little respect for the Earth. The price we have paid for this is too great, and the Earth will soon reach its limits.This world is covered with waste. This does not only apply to waste that is currently being disposed of. All tangible things in the world will one day become waste. Therefore, we must recover the various resources required to support people’s lives from waste. This is precisely what sustainable resource circulation should be about. To promote this recycling, Kubota would like to involve the whole of society in various initiatives to promote carbon neutrality rather than a singular perspective of resource recovery. Most importantly, if each person reconsiders their lifestyle and participates in a recycling-based society, the positive impact will be immeasurable. Kubota is willing to take the initiative to pave the way for everyone to participate and contribute to such a society.