[Profile]
Kazuki Ohara is a sales planning staff of the Crop Science Division and is engaged in the planning and coordination of the product sales optimization strategy. Since 2018, he has also worked for construction and management of the sales partner network for drone/digital business construction.

How will the introduction of digital business using drone/robotics technology affect Japanese agriculture?  

With the current decrease in farm households and aging of farmers, the shortage of successors is becoming a serious problem in Japanese agriculture. In addition, as a result of accelerating consolidation of farmland by farmers, there arises challenging issues such as reduction of workload and promotion of work efficiency. As a means of bringing revolutionary changes to these issues to be solved, digital agriculture using drone/robotics technology is expected to be a new approach.

You think that the digital agriculture can solve the current issues and significantly change Japanese agriculture. Is that right?

My goal is to contribute to enable efficient and sustainable agriculture optimized for each farm field (place for cultivating crops) by utilizing the know-how in pesticide development that Bayer has long cultivated in combination with the cutting-edge technologies such as drone/robotics and sensing technology/AI. It has been approximately 3 years since we launched this business, meanwhile many customers have agreed with Bayer’s vision, and now we have established a network of 20 business partners.

This may also be a new business for the Crop Science Division in Japan. What did you keep in mind when you promoted introduction of this business? 

In introducing this new business, I first put importance on deeply understanding by myself the significance of drones and digital farming in future crop science business in the absence of any precedent. Clear image of what you want to be will serve as the driving force to lead a new solution even in difficult situations. Actually, by communicating my enthusiasm to colleagues and customers I could gain great support.

As this is a new business, communication with people concerned must be especially important. While remote based work is increasing currently, what do you especially pay attention to? 

Remote work may appear to be efficient, but it depends on how you utilize it as a means of promoting high quality communication. What I kept in my mind were: 1) to accurately recognize the purpose of meetings, 2) to communicate in a brief and simple manner, and 3) to make a follow-up phone as needed in order to accurately grasp the response. I have worked in a remote environment for approximately one and a half years, which was good in some part but gave me an opportunity to recognize the importance of off-line communication. It is essential to properly utilize the occasion.

What do you think is a desirable working environment?

As workplace is where people spend a lot of time in life, I strongly want to feel fulfilled with my work and realize my possibility. Bayer gives me full opportunities to realize it and is an attractive field for me. I would like to make a constant effort in order to seize any opportunity at the moment it comes.
Furthermore, the existence of colleagues is invaluable for me, as we can share joy of success and support each other in difficult times. Especially, I believe the culture of celebrating mutual success is an asset of Bayer that has been inherited from seniors and we should be proud of.