Agricooltur: the agritech of urban farming
The agribusiness market is a constantly evolving sector, in the current context FAO estimates that by 2050 food production will have to grow by 70 percent in order to meet the needs of 9.6 billion people globally. To intervene in the growing demand, agritech promotes the innovation process by implementing the quality and quantity of agrifood production through the use of tools such as IoT, big data analytics management and artificial intelligence. Supporting the process is its sustainability, aimed at product circularity and the search for innovative techniques aimed at reducing the resources used for cultivation.
In this context, Agricooltur, an agricultural startup founded in 2018, aims to accompany the transition process to a more sustainable agricultural supply chain. The company through the use of areoponic cultivation aims to develop a system with reduced use of water and energy resources to be included within real estate developments in the real estate and retail sectors. Agricooltur’s patented system is named Areosmat, a digitally monitored cultivation line equipped with crop treatment through nutrients and artificial lighting depending on the placement of the system.
How it works
The production chain starts from a germinator in which the seeds are stored, these are placed inside a pod, then placed inside the Areosmart production line and treated with nutrients useful for the growth of the product. Once the growing process is complete, the crop moves on to a storage phase inside temperature-controlled cold storage rooms, after which it is sold at producer prices to residents of the building or distributed to commercial or restaurant businesses.
The Agricooltur system allows the creation of custom-designed production lines thanks to the company’s prototyping of a modular system set up for various configurations, the tanks used can be placed in production lines extending up to 40mt and distributed horizontally, also allowing them to be placed on multiple levels. The versatility of the product allows it to be used in different conditions, contributing to the possibility of a new type of agricultural product cultivation within the urban context.
Germinator —> Cultivation —>Storage or direct sale
Future developments
Over the years, increasing urbanization has led to a perennial consumption of agricultural land to make way for the expansion of the urban fabric. Through its experimentation, Agricooltur proposes a new vision of the way of farming in the city, which has the opportunity to increasingly combine the well-being of the resident and the presence of innovative elements aimed at implementing practices of learning, teaching and improving the quality of life, while also contributing to the strengthening of social relations through the creation of new points of aggregation for the citizen.
