The application provides farmers with an easy way to automate irrigation operations and environmental conditions such as temperature and humidity in a greenhouse, and control these variables remotely.(image:SK Group)
SEOUL, Feb. 10 (Korea Bizwire) — SK Group and the Sejong Metropolitan Autonomous City are developing a smart farming town based on ICT in Sejong city, to set a benchmark for making Korean farming more convenient and profitable. SK Group already established individual remote-control systems for 100 greenhouse farms in the Yeondong-myeon area of Sejong last year.
One individual monitoring system allows a farmer to remotely control devices within a grow room environment through a smartphone application. The application provides farmers with an easy way to automate irrigation operations and environmental conditions such as temperature and humidity in a greenhouse, and control these variables remotely.
SK Group has also built 50 security monitoring systems in areas around the smart greenhouses, since the new remote control systems are allowing farmers to manage their operations away from their farms. With the new technology, farmers equipped with the application are not forced to spend all their time inside the greenhouses.
SK and Sejong city are also developing a smart farm composed of several big greenhouses, where farmers can generate stable earnings through a ‘Smart Local Food System’, which will enable farmers to monitor and control the quantity of their harvests and therefore avoid surplus. An afterschool institute is also to be developed to provide online learning opportunities for children in the town.
This smart town is also set to be powered by solar facilities. SK and Sejong city are planning to jointly develop a 300KW solar plant in Yeondong-myeon. The electricity produced will power homes and farms in the smart town, and the surplus will be sold to power exchange stations. Profit from the sale of the extra electricity is expected to reach 70 million won (US$ 64,000), and will be spent on maintenance for the smart town.
By J.W. Choi (summerchoi@koreabizwire.com)
