Smart agriculture main buyer country

When you hear about the “main country of the buyer?” in smart agro, you immediately imagine stable exports to one point on the map. But in reality this is rarely the case - the market is capricious, and even China, which everyone calls the main consumer, actually buys selectively. We at Shandong Linyao Intelligent Agriculture Technology LLC went through this: at first we thought that since the product was technological, it would be immediately accepted everywhere. It turned out that even drip irrigation systems, which in our country are fine-tuned to the smallest detail, in Kazakhstan or Uzbekistan, for example, require adaptation - not according to the climate, but according to the mentality of farmers. They don't just want "smart" equipment, but something that can be repaired in the field without calling an engineer. This is a real request, and not an abstract “trend”.

Why ?main country of buyer? is a myth that prevents you from planning

At the beginning, we, like many, focused on large markets - Russia, Belarus. We thought that since agricultural holdings were developed there, our systems for integrating water and fertilizers would work immediately. But it turned out differently: the major players had already purchased equipment from the Europeans, and it took months of negotiations to convince them. And not even in price - in reliability. Once, a supply to the Voronezh region was almost disrupted because our frequency machine seemed “too difficult to set up” to the client. I had to finish the interface on the spot and simplify the control panel. Now we have this case as an example: it is not the country that determines the purchase, but the specific task of the farm.

By the way, aboutSmart agriculture main buyer country- this is often sought by those who are just starting to export. But I would say that it is not the country that is more important, but the type of climate and the structure of the land. For example, in the southern regions of Russia they willingly accept our water filters, and in the Central region they readily accept remote valves. Because the problems with watering are different there: somewhere the water is hard, somewhere the topography does not allow the moisture to be evenly distributed. We even once installed an experimental system near Ufa - specifically for slopes where conventional irrigation does not work. It worked, but I had to recalculate the pressure three times.

Now our main partner is still Central Asia, but not because it is the “main buyer”, but because they are more flexible in their approach to purchasing. They are not afraid to try new things if they see that we are ready to adapt. Here is the websiteShandong Linyao Intelligent Agriculture Technology Co.,LtdWe initially did it for the Russian-speaking region, but then we added sections in Uzbek and Kazakh - simply because clients asked for examples of projects on their terms. This is not a global strategy, but rather a response to requests.

Equipment that actually works, and is not just “innovative?”

In our catalog we have automatic watering systems, which, it would seem, should be sold everywhere. But in Mongolia, for example, they hardly take it - it turned out that due to voltage surges, our frequency converters burn. We had to develop a version with enhanced protection, and it’s not a fact that this will solve the problem. But in the Krasnodar Territory the same system is going great, especially in greenhouse complexes. They value the accuracy of fertilizer dosing, because on tomatoes or cucumbers, an error in concentration is expensive.

I often remember a project near Astana - they built a smart park for vegetable growing. It seemed that everything had been calculated: irrigation, humidity sensors, even the selection of crops for the climate. But they didn’t take into account that in winter the temperature drops to -40, and ordinary plastic pipes burst. We had to urgently change them to frost-resistant ones, although initially the customer saved money. Now I always clarify about the minimum temperatures, even if this is not in the technical specifications. It’s a small thing, but it could derail the entire project.

By the way, aboutintelligent water and fertilizer integration equipment- many people think that it’s just mixing water with fertilizer. In fact, there are algorithms that take into account the type of soil, the growth phase of the crop, even the weather forecast. In Shandong Linyao, we first used ready-made solutions, but then we began to write our own scripts - because, for example, vineyards in Crimea need one mode, and potatoes in Bashkiria need another. And this is not just “customization”, but almost individual development.

Design and construction: where theory diverges from practice

When we first starteddesign and construction of hydraulic structures, they thought that the main thing was accurate calculations. It turned out that it was more important to negotiate with local contractors. Last year, in the Omsk region, a deadline was almost missed due to the fact that an excavator operator refused to dig a trench according to the markings - he said that “they have always done it this way here?” I had to persuade him through the foreman, almost on the spot to edit the drawing.

Another point is logistics. For high-quality agricultural fields, we often import equipment from China, but customs delays if the documents are not perfect. Once a batch of sensors was stuck in Novosibirsk for three weeks - they missed the irrigation season. Now we always have a supply of key components in a warehouse in Russia, although it is more expensive. But clients appreciate it when we can respond quickly.

One of the successful cases is a project in Tatarstan, where we fully automated irrigation for grain crops. We used our own remote valves and monitoring system. The most difficult thing was not the setup, but the training of local agronomists - at first they did not trust the automation and manually double-checked all the readings. Six months later, they themselves admitted that saving water by 30% was worth it. But such a result is not just “set it and forget it”, but constant support.

Why ?smart park? — it’s not only about technology, but also about people

Csmart agricultural parksthe story is special. It seems that this is a ready-made turnkey solution, but in reality you have to improvise every time. In the Moscow region, for example, the customer wanted a park for berries, but did not take into account that the soil there was acidic - they had to do land reclamation at the same time. We, as an integrator, should have foreseen this, but it was missed in the terms of reference. Now we always insist on a preliminary soil analysis, even if the client says “we already know everything?”.

There was an interesting experience in Kyrgyzstan - they built a park with greenhouses. Local workers initially sabotaged the automation because they feared their jobs would be replaced by machines. They allowed it only when they showed that the system does not remove people, but frees them from routine - for example, there is no need to run around 20 hectares with watering cans. An important conclusion: when introducing technologies, it is necessary to explain not only “what?”, but also “why”.

By the way, on the websiteShandong Linyao Intelligent Agriculture Technology Co.,LtdAt first we only posted technical specifications, but then we added videos with real objects - how our systems work in the field. This eliminates 80% of questions from potential buyers. They see that this is not a concept, but an already working solution.

What ultimately determines the buyer is not the country, but the need

To summarize, thenSmart agriculture main buyer countryis more of a marketing shortcut. The reality is more complicated: for example, in the Fergana Valley, our irrigation systems are used more actively than in some regions of Russia, although the latter are considered more advanced. Everything depends on specific problems - in some places there is a shortage of water, in others there are expensive fertilizers, in others there is a shortage of workers.

We are now not so much looking for a “main buyer” as we are working on niche requests. For example, for vegetable farms we select kits with an emphasis on accurate dosing, for grain farms - on saving resources. And this works better than trying to cover the “entire market”.

In the future, I think we will shift even more towards adaptive solutions - not “smart agriculture”? in general, but smart for a specific culture, a specific field. And here our advantage is precisely that we are not a giant concern, but a private technological enterprise that can quickly adapt. As in the case of finalizing filters for salt water in Kalmykia, they did it in a month, although large players would have delayed approvals for six months. This is our main strategy, and not the search for a mythical “main country”.