Roots Sustainable Agricultural Technologies has secured its first commercial order in South Korea for two Root Zone Temperature Optimization (RZTO) systems, which will be used in hydroponic greenhouses.
These systems will be used with TapKit, a Nutrient Film Technology (NFT) developed by hydroponic greenhouse builder and tech integrator, Teshuva Agricultural Projects (TAP).
This order, which is valued at A$22,500 in two installments, comes less than a month after Roots clinched a non-exclusive distribution agreement with Korean ag-tech distributor Ezfarm, and is expected to be the first of many.
The greenhouse project will be built in collaboration with TAP. This follows on from the Tapkit demonstration project in Israel earlier this year, which saw Root’s RZTO used in collaboration with TAP’s NFT technologies to cool the nutrient temperature of hydroponically grown lettuce during a pilot at a commercial farm.
Roots CEO and co-founder, Dr Sharon Devir, said that the combined NFT and RZTO technologies enables farmers to stabilise nutrient temperatures, increasing yields and profits through more efficient crop growing conditions.
This is ideal for farmers in South Korea, who must deal with challenging conditions of cold, dry winters and hot, humid summers.
“Winters are too cold for normal agricultural growth, even in greenhouses. Summer temperatures are often so hot that farmers cannot grow high quality leaves or vegetables in most parts of the country,” said Devir.
“Our first order in South Korea is an exciting milestone in a new market for us. While small, we believe it will be the first of many larger orders, as there has been great interest shown by Korean farming groups and the technology is now available locally.”