Kubota tackles food, water and environmental issues

1.Drew attention at the CES trade show with a next-generation transporter and an automated electric tractor equipped with AI

2.Made CDP’s A lists for climate change and water security in 2023

3.Promotes low-carbon farm and construction machinery despite technical hurdles

4.Has set up new businesses to support farmers and recycle resources, and contributes to water conservation

Agriculture is linked to global issues like the environment and food security. Agriculture and forestry are estimated to be responsible for 20% of greenhouse gas emissions, and climate change is bringing natural disasters and crop shortages in emerging countries.

In Japan, the number of farmers has been steadily decreasing due to aging and a shortage of successors, leading to a decline in crops. Abandoned farmland leads to a collapse of the ecosystem and also has increased the risks of landslides and ecological collapses.

Aiming to address these issues, Kubota in 2021 formulated a long-term vision for 2030, GMB2030, and a midterm business plan running to the end of 2025, pledging to shift to business operations that emphasize “KESG” — a Kubota-style commitment to environmental, social and governance awareness (see the article in the box).

For example, it is in the process of replacing coke-burning furnaces with electric furnaces, which emit 20% to 30% less carbon, to melt iron for making machinery and water pipes.

Still, most of Kubota’s farm and construction equipment has diesel engines, whose environmental impact is far larger.

Kubota’s Scope 1 and 2 direct emissions totaled about 560,000 tons of carbon dioxide in 2023, far more than the 42.3 million tons of Scope 3 indirect emissions from its supply chains. About 87% of this was from the use of its products.

Farm and construction machinery has been decarbonized more slowly than passenger cars. The reasons are specific to these products.

First, heavy-duty agricultural and construction machinery requires significant power. Batteries and electric motors can operate for a shorter time and are not yet suitable under the conditions in which these machines are used.

Another problem is that charging stations are rarely installed in the rural and mountainous areas where these machines are often used, according to Kubota Director Masato Yoshikawa.

“For example, if the battery lasts for only three hours, would you be willing to take an hour to go home to recharge it (in the middle of work)? That would deter customers from buying the product,” said Yoshikawa, who served as representative director and executive vice president in charge of ESG promotion until 2024. “So we need further innovation in batteries themselves, and we have to wait until the charging infrastructure is developed (to a more practical degree). So that’s the situation we are in.”

But Kubota isn’t just sitting around waiting for advances. It is conducting its own research and development with a multifaceted and well-thought-out approach.

For starters, Kubota has been quick to make its industrial diesel engines that produce 100 horsepower or less comply with emissions regulations in various countries.

Kubota sells more than half of the industrial diesel engines it makes to other companies, and thus has a significant impact on farm and construction equipment around the world.

Kubota is working on decarbonization from different angles, labeled “pure engine,” “hybrid” and “fuel” solutions.

The pure engine solution is aimed at improving the fuel efficiency of diesel engines. A combustion technology unique to Kubota called TVCR improves fuel efficiency by about 5% compared to conventional engines. The technology is used in electronically controlled compact engines, such as the D902-K, introduced in 2022, and the D1105-K, introduced in 2024. These models comply with tough emissions regulations in the United States, Europe and China.

Kubota is also working on hybrid engine technology. It developed a “micro hybrid engine,” in which an electric motor kicks in to assist the primary diesel engine the moment it detects a high load.

Kubota has also developed a hybrid that can switch to an electric motor. This system uses a diesel engine to generate electricity for the batteries. A prototype was exhibited at a trade show in Munich in 2022.

Kubota is also working to make its engines compatible with alternative fuels. All of the diesel engines it currently offers are compatible with “hydrotreated vegetable oil,” a biodiesel fuel made by adding hydrogen to vegetable oil.

“We believe we are the leader in low-carbon and hybrid technology for compact diesel engines,” Yoshikawa said.

Kubota is also working on technology to shift itself away from fossil fuels entirely.

In September 2022, the company announced it would introduce an electric tractor, Japan’s first. In April 2023, it launched a long-term rental service for the tractor for European local governments. Later that year, it announced it would introduce an electric mini excavator to the European market the next spring. This expanded its electric lineup to construction machinery.

But Kubota still faces a hurdle, according to Yoshikawa.

“There is demand for small electric agricultural and construction machinery in regions where regulations are strict, such as Paris, but are they commercially viable elsewhere in the world? No, they aren’t, for now,” the director said.

Engines that run on hydrogen are seen as a promising, viable alternative.

When hydrogen reacts with oxygen, energy is released, emitting only water vapor. There are two types of technologies for generating power this way: fuel cells and hydrogen internal combustion engines (HICE).

In September 2022, Kubota announced it was developing an industrial-use HICE.

As a HICE is simply a type of internal combustion engine, one can be installed in an existing tractor, for example. Development of the technology is progressing steadily, and in January Kubota unveiled its prototype at the CES in Las Vegas and the Hydrogen & Fuel Cell Seminar in California.

Last March, Kubota also unveiled a prototype tractor with electric motors powered by fuel cells. That project qualified for subsidies from the New Energy and Industrial Technology Development Organization in 2021 and has now shifted to the testing phase.

As next-generation technologies, fuel cells and hydrogen internal combustion engines have both advantages and disadvantages, but Kubota is betting on them both.

Kubota casts wide nets for its development projects. Issues do, of course, crop up in terms of performance, cost and infrastructure, and technologies may not find wide use quickly. But the company believes their time will come. “We’re going to do anything we can do” to make that happen, Yoshikawa said.

Kubota contributes to sustainability in diverse ways. In addition to developing next-generation farm and construction machinery, it has initiated projects supporting sustainable farming operations and the circular economy. One such initiative is a farm-based solar power generation project that takes advantage of Kubota’s connections with farmers.

The project helps agricultural corporations and farmers set up solar power facilities on their land, and Kubota buys the electricity to use at its plants.

Currently, Kubota plans to expand the project to 50 locations in and around Tochigi Prefecture by April, targeting a total generation capacity of 5 megawatts. Kubota estimates the facilities will reduce emissions of carbon dioxide by 2,600 tons annually. It aims to buy ¥5 billion in electricity by 2030.

“(This initiative) helps maintain farming, an essential industry, and contributes to securing food,” Yoshikawa said. “It helps us raise the percentage of renewable energy consumption. It may even lead to moves to set up charging stations for next-generation farm and construction equipment.”

Another new project that inspires high expectations is for recycling resources using Kubota’s technology for melting waste.

Kubota has melting furnaces whose temperatures reach 1,200 to 1,300 degrees Celsius, and has been supplying its “rotating surface melting furnace” to local governments and other entities. This furnace can melt down ashes and other residues produced through the incineration of garbage and other forms of waste. Kubota also continues to conduct demonstrations and experiments on recovering useful and valuable metals from slag.

Metals are conventionally extracted and transported overseas to Japan, inflicting enormous environmental impacts. Kubota’s initiative can be likened to realizing urban mines in Japan.

Although the melting process emits carbon dioxide, the amount “is less than that of CO2 emitted from mining metals in faraway countries and transporting them all the way to Japan, by our calculations,” according to Yoshikawa. Kubota believes the technology should be commercially viable in overseas markets and is working to develop it further in Japan.

In the realm of water, Kubota operates a wide range of businesses for both water supply and sewage and contributes to the construction of water infrastructure in other countries. In Japan, it uses “aging diagnosis”of water pipes — a proprietary technology — and hydraulic analysis to suggest efficient ways to repair or replace infrastructure. Kubota also contributes to water conservation and preventing accidents caused by aging.

“What sets us apart from other manufacturers is the fact that we are engaged in food, water and the environment at the same time,” Yoshikawa said. “It may take longer than we expect for next-generation farm and construction machinery to begin to reduce the impact on the environment. But during that period, we aim to contribute to sustainability in other aspects, such as initiatives to conserve water or resource recycling, for example.”

When the times finally catch up, Kubota’s next-generation solutions will quickly blossom. Kubota regards food, water and the environment as inseparable and works to contribute to resolving issues related to them.

Kubota founder Gonshiro Kubota once said, “Our products should not only be technically excellent, but also useful for the good of society.” His spirit is still strongly reflected in Kubota today.

〈クボタ〉が手がける農機・建機は世界120カ国以上に展開され、約３兆円（2023年12月期）の売上高のうち、海外売上比率は79%を占めるまでに成長した。サステナビリティへの対応でも評価を高めている。

2021年、2030年への長期ビジョン「GMB2030」および、2025年12月期までの「中期経営計画2025」を策定。クボタ流のESG「KESG」を経営の中核に据えた事業運営への転換を高らかに宣言した。

ディーゼルエンジンを主流とする農機・建機の低炭素化や脱炭素化は、乗用車に比べ遅れている。駆動時間などで劣るバッテリーや電動モーターを適用することが難しく、EV化へのハードルは高い。

とは言え、手をこまぬいて進歩を待っているわけではない。先回りして自社でできる研究開発を進めている。今、〈クボタ〉が注力しているのは「ピュアエンジン」「ハイブリッド」「フューエル」の3つのソリューション。それぞれ異なる角度から低炭素化・脱炭素化に挑んでいる。そのアプローチは多面的で隙がない。

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