“Saltware has become the first South Korean company to export K-smart farm solutions to markets in the Middle East. We plan to be a leader in the smart farm industry by making $9.05 million (10 billion KRW).” said CEO Lee Jeong-geun of Saltware while being confident in that the company’s smart farm project in Qatar, which is being carried out as a pilot project this year, will be completed successfully. Starting with the project in Qatar, the company plans to be active in targeting other smart farm markets throughout the world.
Saltware has been working on technologies related to smart farm since 2011 when there was not any smart farm business model in South Korea. The company has been working tirelessly in order to surpass agriculture technologies that countries such as Netherland, the United States, and Japan, which are powerhouses in the global agriculture market, have been working on for the past 40 years. It also set a vision of strengthening autonomy in food and protecting South Korea’s smart farm market that is expected to see foreign products and solutions flooding in.
Its state-of-the-art agriculture production complex that was exported to Qatar last year is drawing attention around the world as it is used to grow appetizing and healthy tomatoes in the middle of a desert. The company is also making its name known within South Korea. Its IT cultivators located near Gwanghwamun and the Seoul City Hall are used to grow herbs and lettuce endlessly.
◊Saltware developed into a leader in the smart farm industry due to CEO Lee
“South Korea’s smart farm market is expected to be a fierce battlefield between foreign and domestic products.” said CEO Lee. “We plan to target foreign markets through cutting-edge agricultural products and also make contributions towards localizing smart farms.” Unlike major corporations, it is not easy for a small and medium enterprise to carry out a business overseas due to limitations in capital and infrastructures. Despite these difficult conditions, the company has been keeping its smart farm business running due to its desire to make contributions towards the society.
Smart farm products developed by Saltware in particular are also products integrated with cutting-edge IT technologies that South Korea is proud of.
CEO Lee said that the company’s seedling container called “NewWaySeedling-Q1” and desert-type greenhouse called “NewWayHouse-Q1” are products that are integrated with cutting-edge IT technologies and that it is not an exaggeration to say that excellent technologies behind the two products were the reason why the company was able to obtain the Qatar project.
“NewWaySeedling-Q1” is able to produce various seedlings from herbs and fruits and vegetables. Production period for seedlings is also reduced by more than 30% compared to the current farming methods. Hardening nursery intensified training that artificially lowers temperature at night is also carried out automatically through a system. Seedlings produced from “NewWaySeedling-Q1” are three to four times stronger than seedlings grown through traditional farming methods.
“NewWayHouse-Q1” is applied with a natural ventilation function by blocking UV rays and using stack effect. It circulates cold water around the roots of plants and help the plants overcome high temperatures in a desert. It uses low energy through a “greenhouse vaporizing air-conditioning system (fan and pad system) and maximizes efficiency at the same time.
The company’s techniques and extensive experiences in the smart farm industry are also unrivaled. Some of its experiences in South Korea and foreign countries involve mass-production plant cultivation center, automated plant cultivation plant, robot plant factory, local air-conditioning plant factory, and herbs and fruits and vegetables production facilities. It completed applying for patent licenses and submitting patent applications regarding local air-conditioning plant factory and herbs and fruits and vegetables production facilities. This shows the company’s confidence in carrying out its smart farm business overseas.
“From a standpoint of agriculture, it is difficult to find aspects of our company that are superior than that of smart farm companies from Netherland and Japan.” said CEO Lee. “However, South Korea’s IT industry is a world-class level and we are an IT company.” He also said that a tacit agriculture era is waning fast globally and that Saltware has landed a project by proving that agriculture integrated with IT is needed.
◊Saltware successfully carrying out its “desert-type smart farm” project in Qatar
“Our pilot project involving a 1,600m2 tomato smart farm in Qatar is facing preparing for a first harvest.” said CEO Lee. “While the Qatari government is seeing harvest of 25 kilograms of tomatoes per one square meter as a success, we believe that at least 30 kilograms of tomatoes will be harvested per one square meter.”
He also said that the company invested $905,000 (1 billion KRW) in the project that had lasted from 2019 to 2020 and that the company is facing a successful end to the project despite many twists and turns such as COVID-19.
In February last year, the Qatari government prohibited foreigners from entering the country due to COVID-19. Its decision also affected Saltware’s development team. As a result, the company had faced difficulties due to a slow progress of the project. Also, it is impossible to take composite fertilizers that are needed to grow plants into Qatar as the Qatari government is concerned about people making explosives such as dynamite using nitrogen from composite fertilizers.
“Our employees in Qatar are making composite fertilizers using materials that they are able to obtain.” said CEO Lee. “These restrictions have actually made our executives and employees’ abilities to handle critical situations even stronger.” He also added that the Qatari government is carrying out the smart farm project from an aspect of food security and that Saltware will continue to be in touch with the Qatari government in order to resolve the composite fertilizer issue wisely.
CEO Lee plans to expand the company’s smart farm business in the Middle East even more by using this pilot project as an opportunity. The company plans to observe yield of tomatoes until June this year and begin working on the actual desert-type smart farm project, which will be 10 hectares, by the end of this year.
CEO Lee emphasized that a long-term trust with Middle Eastern countries such as Qatar can be built by building that trust slowly and that Saltware will begin working on the actual project once it is finished with the pilot project.
He also followed that by saying that Saltware is the first South Korean company to build a South Korean smart farm in the Middle East and that he hopes Saltware can build smart tomato and strawberry farms that cover areas of millions of pyeong in the Middle East in the long term.
Saltware also plans to launch an agriculture management comprehensive service this year. This service will include information on materials needed for agriculture, seeding, seedling, production, sale, and distribution. The company also plans to introduce a remote cultivation support service to prevent harmful insects and an optimal growing environment control service to raise yield as much as possible through big data analysis.
“We believe that agriculture is also a type of service and we are working on various services that can improve agricultural management environments.” said CEO Lee. “We are going to become a comprehensive agricultural solutions provider that provides information needed for agricultural management and smart farm operation techniques.”
Staff Reporter Lim, Joongkwon | lim9181@etnews.com