The first hydroponic vegetable venture invested by Temasek: Smart agriculture reforms the food industry and Hong Kong can be self-sufficient

Special interviews

Written by: Kwong Yueting

2021-06-21 09:05

Last update date: 2021-06-21 09:05

Food technology has attracted much attention from the capital market in recent years. In addition to plant meat becoming the focus of the market, scientific and technological agriculture cannot be ignored.

Many technology giants are involved in agriculture. For example, Alibaba Cloud uses AI to raise pigs and introduces artificial intelligence, cloud computing, image technology, and voice technology into the pig industry; JD.com not only raises chickens, pigs, but also grows vegetables.

What is the prospect of science and technology agriculture?

Sustenir Agriculture, a hydroponic planting company from Singapore that has received investment from Temasek, entered Hong Kong in 2019. The company uses hydroponics to grow vegetables in the Tuen Mun industrial building, including: curly leaf kale, dinosaur kale, crisp oak leaf lettuce, green Oak lettuce and rocket dishes are supplied to supermarkets and restaurants such as PARKnSHOP, Wellcome, and city'super. The prices of the products are similar to those imported from Australia.

Benjamin Swan, founder of Sustenir Agriculture, said that Hong Kong is scarce in land and 98% of food is imported. If a hydroponic plantation is set up in an industrial building, it can provide consumers with fresh and nutritious vegetables and use hydroponic cultivation. It is more certain that the vegetables are 100% clean and free of pesticides.

The retail price of Sustenir Agriculture's rolled leaf kale and dinosaur kale is 35 yuan.

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He believes that smart agriculture can reform the food industry. Cities that used to rely on imported food can also grow a variety of nutritious vegetables so that cities can be self-sufficient.

The company once thought that it was impossible to grow kale in Hong Kong, but in the end it was successfully planted. Two types of kale have become Sustenir's key products. Therefore, Hong Kong has the potential to develop smart agriculture and is absolutely self-sufficient.

The company sells a wider variety of products in Singapore, such as ice plant and spinach.

Benjamin Swan said that in the Singapore market, the company will turn poor-looking vegetables into ready-to-eat products, such as pesto and juice, to further reduce food waste. He hopes that the company will introduce these products to Hong Kong in the future.

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