Green Co., Ltd., an agricultural corporation (CEO Gi-pyo Kwon), will be holding the ‘7 Agri & Food Tech Start-up Fair (Agri & Food Tech Start-up Fair)’ held at COEX Hall A in Seoul for three days from July 26 (Wed) to 28 (Fri). Rising Expo 3)’.
Griin provides agricultural solutions throughout farmhouse operation using low-cost, high-efficiency facilities, and aims to reduce fluctuations in prices of agricultural products through stable supply of agricultural products through nutrient solution cultivation. To this end, we are directly developing and constructing facilities necessary for nutrient solution cultivation, purchasing agricultural products produced in the facilities, and supplying them directly to restaurants, distributors, and large-scale food material companies, expanding the number of distributors.
Green, which is also a support company for agri-food venture start-up fostering companies supervised by the Korea Agricultural Technology Promotion Agency, presents ‘Smatium’ products at this exhibition and also participates in the demo day.
‘Smatium’ products receive nutrient solution from the pot where the plant grows and the main tank, a pot tray that stores a certain amount of water, and a water level control device that controls the level of the nutrient solution supplied from the main tank inside the tray. It is largely divided into three parts.
Existing hydroponic systems are divided into a non-circulation system in which a certain amount of nutrient solution is supplied and unused nutrient solution is discarded, and a circulation system in which the supplied nutrient solution is circulated. The non-circulation system may cause environmental pollution problems due to discarded nutrient solution, and the circulating system may cause a problem in that the ratio of the nutrient solution is changed due to the difference in the degree of absorption of trace elements by plants in the process of circulating the nutrient solution.
On the other hand, ‘Smatium’ is able to prevent the waste of nutrient solution or the problem of incorrect ratio because new nutrient solution is supplied after exhausting the nutrient solution supplied to the tray. It has the advantage of using only one pot or connecting hundreds of flower pots to the main nutrient solution tank.
An official from Green said, “In existing plant cultivation, electricity had to be used to supply nutrient solution to plants. However, in the case of some agricultural facilities, there are cases where electricity cannot be supplied, or electricity consumption must be minimized to obtain agricultural product certification. In this situation, ‘Smatium’ can supply nutrient solution to plants without using electricity, and as long as the floor is well leveled, anyone can install it even without separate equipment or construction ability,” he said. When installing the product, it is only necessary to supply and connect the nutrient solution to the existing facility, so it can reduce the economic burden of the farmhouse at the stage of introducing the facility.”
‘Smatium’ has been sold through the system since the end of last year in Korea, and tomatoes and tomatillos produced in the system are purchased from Green and delivered to restaurants or sold through processing. In addition, the system-related design patent registration was completed last year, and the product is planned to be released so that it can be used for plant cultivation at home.
An official from Green said, “We are conducting research to increase the productivity of nutrient solution cultivation equipment. Currently, vertical cultivation facilities and potted systems are being supplied to the market, but we are continuing to research other types of cultivation systems and are working to develop facilities to reduce farm income and labor intensity.” The part that farmers think is the biggest difficulty in agricultural activities is securing a market for agricultural products produced, and we are preparing a service that can collect and sell agricultural products from these small farmers.”
Meanwhile, at AFRO 2023, the largest Agtech & Foodtech event in Korea, domestic startups with global growth potential in Agtech, Foodtech, and Green Bio will exhibit products and services to solve various problems in the agriculture and food industries, Various programs such as conferences discussing the present and future of Agtech and Foodtech and investment briefings (IR competitions) are held. This exhibition is hosted by the Ministry of Agriculture, Food and Rural Affairs and supervised by the Korea Agricultural Technology Promotion Agency, NH Nonghyup, COEX, and the Korea Food Tech Council.