Donating Agricultural Equipment to Educational Institutions

According to the United Nations, the world's population is expected to increase from 7.7 billion in 2019 to 9.7 billion in 2050^*1, and the demand for food is expected to increase accordingly. On the other hand, the proportion of the total employed population working in agriculture is declining in most countries around the world^*2. Initiatives supporting the increasing demand for food accompanying population growth are an urgent issue.

Aiming to achieve the No Poverty and Zero Hunger goals listed as SDGs, the Kubota Group carries out various initiatives to promote sustainable agriculture and protect prosperous lives for humans and an abundance of food in the future. One of those initiatives is supporting the development of farmers who will lead in the next generation.

Yet France is the EU's leading agricultural nation, the farming population has been decreasing since the 1990s. For that reason, France is concentrating on agricultural education for developing human resources leading to the revitalization of rural areas.

Kubota Farm Machinery Europe SAS (KFM), which produces the M7 tractor is based in the north of France in the heartland of many different kinds of agriculture.
KFM donates prototype tractors to local agricultural technical colleges instead of scrapping them.
It aims to contribute to sustainable agriculture by providing opportunities for young farmers and technicians, the future leaders of agriculture, to learn tractor operation, maintenance, and related knowledge, thereby fostering the next generation of agricultural leaders.
A prototype M7 tractor worth 102,000 euros (about 121,000 U.S. dollars) was donated to an agricultural technical college in Hazebrouck situated in the North of France in 2018. And in 2021 a tractor M7 worth 85,000 euros (about 101,000 U.S. dollars) was donated to an agricultural technical college in Fontaine-lès-Vervins.

These partnerships do not stop at tractor donations; we also work with the teaching teams to provide useful and fulfilling internships for their students.

According to the 2017 Census of Agriculture released in 2019 by the U.S. Department of Agriculture, the overall size of farms decreased by 1.6% to about 30,000 hectares compared to the previous census (2012 Census of Agriculture), while the average area per farm and ranch unit increased by 1.6% to about 178 hectares (441 acres).

On the other hand, the average age of all producers was 57.5 years, up 1.2 years from the previous census. As the number of producers is aging, as is the case in Japan, the need to train the next generation to support farms operating on a larger scale is imperative.

Since its establishment in 1972, Kubota Tractor Corporation (KTC) has been contributing to American agriculture through the sale of engines and tractors. To contribute to the education of the next generation of farmers, the company donated a new L Series tractor to Grapevine High School in Texas in 2019. The school, which has an agricultural education program, also has a chapter of Future Farmers of America (FFA), an organization of students studying agriculture, and the donated tractor is being used for FFA activities.

Siam Kubota Corporation Co., Ltd. (SKC), which conducts business in Thailand, actively supports education as part of its own community engagement. Not limited to Thailand, the scope of this support extends to neighboring countries as well.

In Thailand's neighboring country of Cambodia, SKC, Kubota (Cambodia) Co., Ltd. (KBC), which supports the sales of agricultural machinery in the country, KUBOTA Leasing (Cambodia) and local dealers are cooperating with the Royal Thai Embassy in donation activities to educational institutions in Cambodia.

In 2022, we donated six diesel engines & power tillers, two pumps, 300 sets of school bags, and 20 sets of outdoor tables and chairs to Kampong Speu Institute of Technology and children attending nearby schools in Cambodia. SKC will continue to contribute to the development of the next generation of human resources through variety of activities.