Japan Agricultural Expo J-AGRI opens…10,000 visitors on first day

Last summer, in the orchard of 50-year-old Tatsuhiko Iida in Nagano Prefecture, daytime temperatures climbed to 36 degrees Celsius and did not drop even at night. Apples, which need a large day-night temperature gap to turn red, failed to develop their proper color, and birds peck away about 100 kg of apples every year. The entire workforce consists of Iida, his wife and one part-time worker. That is why Iida, who grows apples and peaches, visited Makuhari Messe near Tokyo on the 8th.

Japan’s agricultural exhibition, “J-AGRI Tokyo 2026,” opened on the 7th at Makuhari Messe in Chiba Prefecture, Japan, and runs through the 9th. According to organizer RX Japan, about 10,000 people visited the venue on the first day alone. RX Japan expected visitor numbers to rise further on the second day, the 8th. On the first and second days of the opening, the exhibition hall aisles were crowded with farmers looking for technologies they could use in the field and industry officials who came to examine agricultural trends.

This year’s exhibition featured 884 companies from 18 countries. There were 564 Japanese companies and 320 overseas companies. Four countries—Brazil, Taiwan, South Korea and China—set up national pavilions, and about 200 companies participated in the four pavilions, similar to last year. About 30% of the exhibitors were participating for the first time. The exhibition was divided into six specialized shows: smart agriculture, agricultural materials, livestock materials, livestock disease prevention and hygiene, decarbonization and the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs), and next-generation agricultural management. The seminars held alongside the exhibition comprised 26 sessions, with about 5,000 people making reservations in advance.

The smart agriculture show attracted the largest number of visitors. RX Japan said, “Among them, the autonomous driving field, which automates work, was especially popular.” At the outdoor demonstration area set up outside the venue, a “Touch & Try” event was held. Equipment demonstrations continued according to a set timetable, and visitors went outside at the scheduled times to watch the machines actually move.

The main themes of this year’s exhibition, including “labor reduction,” “countermeasures against high temperatures” and “damage from birds and animals,” were directly connected to the problems farmers face in the field.

Iida, who tends about 300 apple trees in a 1.8-hectare orchard that also includes a peach field, cited labor as one of his biggest concerns. He said he had not originally come to see transporters, but changed his mind after watching a demonstration of a transport robot that automatically follows a worker. Iida said, “Rather than reducing the number of people, the robot takes over the work of carrying things by hand, so the work becomes less strenuous,” adding, “If I introduce a robot, I think I can continue farming until my mid-70s.”

But the price is a burden. Depending on the local government, subsidies cover from one-third to one-half of the purchase cost. After hearing that, with half the cost subsidized, the machine could be introduced for around 1 million yen, Iida judged that “at that level, it would not be unreasonable.” Still, he said that for now he simply thinks it is good and is not yet at the stage of actively considering a purchase.

Iida also said, “If temperatures rise to 36 degrees as they did last year, it creates problems with the day-night temperature gap and disrupts apple farming. And to prevent bird damage, we hang human-shaped cloth and strong-smelling seafood to drive birds away, but about 100 kg of apples are still damaged each year. Bird damage is widespread across Japan.”

The organizers explained that this expo would serve as a venue to bring such issues into public discussion while also introducing companies that offer solutions.

Regarding what has changed from last year, RX Japan Secretariat Director Hiroaki Saito said, “J-AGRI is Japan’s largest exhibition bringing agriculture and livestock together in one place,” adding, “Because there were many inquiries from companies exhibiting in the livestock materials field asking whether there were any companies specializing in disease prevention, we newly created the Livestock Disease Prevention and Hygiene Show this year, and the organizers are also directly participating in matching visitors with exhibitors.”