KUBOTA AGRI FRONT

Kubota, whose mission is to solve social issues in the business areas of food, water, and the environment, has opened an agricultural learning facility in Hokkaido Ballpark where people can learn about the appeal and possibilities of "food and agriculture" in a fun and delicious way. This facility targets children as its main target audience, and is based on the concept of a place where everyone can learn and think together for the future. It has created an experiential story about three important keys to solving the problems facing food and agriculture. In particular, the "AGRI QUEST" course, aimed at children and students in the fourth grade of elementary school and above, allows participants to become one of the agricultural managers and work in a team to learn about the fun and diversity of agricultural management, and in the "TECH LAB" they can experience the importance of agritech by experiencing cutting-edge smart agriculture and plant factories. There is also a cafe on the premises that serves menus using carefully selected ingredients. Our group not only planned, designed, produced, and constructed construction, but also provided a wide range of solutions such as facility management, cafe management, and event decoration.

Food and agriculture are fields that face many challenges, including world population growth, global environmental issues, a decline in the agricultural workforce, and food waste. Meanwhile, in order to support the food that humans need to live on Earth and the agriculture that supports that food, people, organizations, companies, and governments from various positions have begun to work toward solutions. Against this social background, Kubota expected us to play the role of "partner for the entire project," working together with them to think about the purpose and type of experience to provide for their new agricultural learning facility, creating a vision for the project, and working with them to design the experience and space, and then implementing it.

The challenges facing food and agriculture are complex, and it is important to address them throughout the entire food value chain, and to utilize the ever-evolving agritech. Our facility's message was "Agriculture is a homework assignment from the Earth," and we created an experience around three keys to solving the homework. We also empathized with Kubota's desire to collaborate with a variety of people in a sustainable way, and we aimed to create displays you could see the faces of the people involved, based on the concept of "making friends who are oriented toward the future of food and agriculture." We created an experience and space that made people feel that "There are challenges in food and agriculture, but taking on challenges for the future is fun!", through the "AGRI QUEST" game, where people challenge themselves to manage farming in teams, and by actually tasting food, they could experience the joy of food.

NOMURA, Ltd. has led the core of the project, from concept planning to experience creation and spatial design, and has also smoothly handled the operation of the facility and cafe. We believe that they have created a valuable facility that could not have been realized with any other partner.