Skolkovo, a Russian famous innovation center, has set about a joint Russian-Japanese project, in which Panasonic Corporation will participate. Prototypes of greenhouses will be equipped in the coming months.
The developers expect to reap the first harvest before the end of this year.
Until now, for most consumers Panasonic is associated only with modern electronics. Nevertheless, this company has been long doing business in agricultural area as well. It is noteworthy that Japanese farmers refuse to use pesticides, applying LED lighting to combat pests and plant diseases. It is the use of energy-saving technologies that makes the production of vegetables in greenhouses such competitive.
On 13 February, the head of Panasonic’s Development Department in Russia, Herman Gavrilov, got acquainted with the activities of a half dozen Skolkovo teams involved in technologies of vegetables cultivation in greenhouses. The Japanese were demonstrated a good deal of Russian groundwork: mobile laboratory container, where it is possible to produce particularly pure seed, an automated complex for production of vegetable agricultural products, energy-saving greenhouses of the new generation.
According to Herman Gavrilov, on the territory of Russia it is planned to produce harvest from innovative greenhouses in the amount of 1 billion rubles, and in a few years the sales volume can reach $1 billion.