Soilless methods of growing urban agricultural products main buyer country

When people talk about hydroponics in urban agriculture, the main thing they often miss is who pays for the technology. We have been supplying drip irrigation systems to the CIS countries for years, but the main buyer turned out to be where they least expected it.

Mistakes in market assessment

Until 2020, we focused on local greenhouse complexes, until we received a request fromShandong Linyao Intelligent Agriculture Technology Co.,Ltd. Their engineers were looking not just for equipment, but for complete solutions for vertical farms in industrial areas.

The Chinese partners immediately outlined the criteria: minimal energy consumption, compatibility with their monitoring systems and maintainability in a metropolis. This differed from the requests of local farmers, where the main thing was the price tag.

It took three prototypes of aeroponics systems to be reviewed before we understood the essence - they were interested not so much in technology as in adaptation to the specifics of urban roofs with wind load and vibration.

Technical nuances of soilless farming

In the project for Qingdao, we encountered the problem of salinity in the nutrient solution. Local water contained impurities that could not be filtered out by standard systems. We had to develop cascade filters with reverse osmosis.

Automation system fromhttps://www.lyzhihuinongye.rushowed itself to be ambiguous. On the one hand, their software collected data perfectly, on the other hand, it required constant calibration of pH sensors. Our technicians carried out adjustments twice a week.

I remember an incident with overheating of the solution in August. At +35°C, the roots of the tomatoes began to die, although, logically, aeroponics should have been able to cope. It turned out that Chinese colleagues did not take into account thermal radiation from concrete walls.

Economics of urban agricultural systems

The cost of a kilogram of lettuce in such conditions reached 200 rubles, while the market price was 90. But for the Chinese partners, this was not a question of profit, but of providing fresh herbs to elite residential complexes.

Interestingly, they rejected our payback calculations. Their financiers calculated them according to a different model - they took into account the increase in the value of real estate with 'green technologies'.

Now their websiteShandong Linyao Intelligent Agriculture Technology Co.,Ltddemonstrates ready-made solutions, but behind the scenes there are months of trial and error with humidity sensors.

Logistics challenges

Delivery of fragile hydroponic system parts to coastal cities in China took 45 days. Every fourth EC sensor was found to be inaccurate due to changes in humidity in the containers.

We had to develop packaging with silica gel pockets, which increased the cost by 12%, but reduced rejects to 3%.

Colleagues from Lingyao insisted on using local components for repairs. This required redesigning the connecting nodes to Chinese thread standards.

Prospects for technology development

We are currently testing hybrid systems with elements of aquaponics, but so far we have not been able to stabilize the biobalance. Chinese customers are interested in this area, but require guarantees of minimal risk.

The main buyer continues to dictate terms - instead of automation, they are asking for simplified solutions for manual control. Apparently, the difference in labor costs has an effect.

At the last videoconference, a representativelyzhihuinongye.rumentioned plans for integration with smart cities. This means that systems will soon be required that transmit data to unified city control centers.

Adaptation to regional characteristics

In Shandong, they encountered an unexpected problem - local technicians were trying to 'improve' the system by adding homemade filters. This led to an imbalance of nutrient solutions.

We had to conduct training in Russian with consecutive translation. Interestingly, Chinese experts perceived information better through diagrams rather than text instructions.

Now their company independently services 70% of installations, but complex cases still require our intervention. Especially with setting up dosing pumps forsoilless growing methods.

Conclusions and unresolved issues

After five years of working with the Chinese market, you understand that success does not depend on technological superiority, but on the ability to adapt to local specifics. Their energy efficiency requirements are 30% stricter than European ones.

The ideal substrate for periodic flooding systems has not yet been found - coconut fiber is unstable, and mineral wool requires special disposal.

The main lesson is that soilless farming technologies must be developed with a specific consumer in mind. In our case, the main buyer dictates not only the technical parameters, but also the philosophy of the approach to urban farming.