Startup Spotlight: South Korea-Based Green and Seed Corporation's Sustainable Farming Solution is Making its Presence Felt in the MENA Region Green and Seed Corporation's SFC system offers a way to cultivate crops like rice and wheat in terrains where the soil is dry and water resources are limited.

This article is part of an ongoing series covering startups that have been a part of the Mohammed Bin Rashid Innovation Fund (MBRIF) accelerator program.

When Sung-jin Choe founded Green and Seed Corporation, an agritech startup that offers a sustainable rice farming system, in his hometown Jeonju in South Korea, he did so with ample firsthand knowledge on the subject matter. You see, Choe's family has been in the rice farming business for multiple generations. But when his parents -both experts in computer-aided design and computer-aided manufacturing CAD/CAM and bioplastics- took over the reins in 2010, they developed a technique known as seed film cultivation (SFC). "Our core technology, SFC, utilizes film mulching drip irrigation (FMDI) to save 80% of water while increasing crop yields by 20%," Choe explains. "For starters, the FMDI system works by delivering water directly to the root zone via drip irrigation, while a biodegradable film (biofilm) covered with the soil, minimizes evaporation and maintains optimal growing conditions. Then, additionally, our technology creates a greenhouse-like environment beneath the film, which automates the seedling and transplanting processes, significantly reducing labor requirements."

Green and Seed Corporation was thus officially incorporated in 2019, and offers two key products: Seed-attacher, which is used to first attach the rice seeds to the biofilm, and Mulcher, which is used to spread the film to bury it within the soil and installs drip tape [a thin-walled, flexible polyethylene tubing with holes/emitters that deliver small, precise amounts of water directly to plant roots] underneath.

Here, Choe elaborates that these two equipment were actually built in a direct response to the shortcomings posed by solely using the FMDI technique initially. "We soon found that although FMDI increased yield and water use efficiency by 20% and 30%, respectively, it required too much labor and generated a huge amount of plastic wastes," Choe explains. "FMDI's shortcomings were thus resolved by developing Seed-attacher and Mulcher and introducing biofilm and reusable drip irrigation. As a result, SFC maximizes production while minimizing water, labor, and greenhouse gas emissions. Years of experience and literature have shown that SFC saves 80% of water while increasing yields by 20% compared to conventional methods when growing wheat and rice."

Source: Green and Seed Corporation

Having achieved sales in China and Vietnam so far, Green and Seed Corporation achieved a revenue of US$240,000 in 2023 alone. "Farming with SFC begins with farmers bringing their own seeds and attaching them to biofilm to produce [what is called] the Seedfilm, and the seed attachment facility is called SFC Center or, simply, Center," Choe elaborates. "Our business model is to set up these Centers where we sell Seedfilm to farmers and rent Mulchers. Since one seed-attacher can produce 5,000 hectares (ha) of Seedfilm a year 24/7, it is recommended to establish one Center per 5,000 ha of SFC farmland."

Now, if it hasn't been evident already, Green and Seed Corporation's SFC system offers a way to cultivate crops like rice and wheat in terrains where the soil is dry and water resources are limited. Indeed, with the product being pretty much tailormade for the Middle East, Choe and his team are now expanding into the region. "Rice farming is one of the most water-intensive agricultural practices, consuming 30% of the world's freshwater, with the global average requiring approximately three tons of water to produce just one kilogram of rice," Choe says. "For regions like the Middle East, where water scarcity is a critical issue, this dependency on rice imports is a significant challenge. Our solution SFC, which allows for rice cultivation even in desert climates, is a convergence of multiple technologies, including the Seed-attacher, Mulcher, biofilm, and drip irrigation. It dramatically reduces water usage—by up to 80%—while increasing crop yield by 15-20%. This innovation not only addresses water scarcity but also enables Middle Eastern countries to achieve food security by producing rice domestically at a lower cost than importing."

Already, the startup's offerings have received interest in Saudi Arabia: in winter this year, Green and Seed Corporation will conduct a proof of concept at the Kingdom's National Research and Development Center for Sustainable Agriculture (Estidamah). "Our focus will be on cultivating wheat, alfalfa, Egyptian clover, and rice," Choe reveals. "In Saudi Arabia's hot and dry climate, significant amounts of water are wasted in agriculture, particularly in rice farming in the Al-Hasa region, where over 90% of water is lost. We aim to demonstrate the effectiveness of our technology in Saudi Arabia. Once proven, our solution will play a crucial role in enhancing food security and enabling profitable farming practices. This technology has the potential to replace the 1.2 million tons of imported rice in Saudi Arabia, a market valued at 900 million SAR annually. Moreover, it can be applied to other crops such as wheat, alfalfa, and even Acacia trees, which represent an even larger market opportunity."

Sung-jin Choe is the founder and CEO of Green and Seed Corporation. Source: Green and Seed Corporation

The startup has created a similar buzz in the UAE as well. In 2023, Green and Seed Corporation was accepted into the ExpoLive Innovation Impact Grant Program, a global innovation and partnership grant program initiated under Expo 2020 Dubai. "As a result of ExpoLive, we have entered the UAE market by successfully growing wheat and alfalfa with SFC in cooperation with the Al-Nakhli Sector [a sustainable agritech initiative aimed at improving water efficiency and promoting sustainable agriculture in the country]," Choe says. "However, to expand SFC in the UAE, a SFC Center must be established here, and for this we need a partner." In this regard, participating in the MBRIF Innovation Accelerator program has certainly been a welcome move. "We chose the MBRIF program to identify an agricultural partner with the capital and technological expertise needed to establish an SFC Center in the UAE," Choe adds. "This partnership is crucial for scaling our operations and making a significant impact on the region's food security and sustainability goals."

As Choe and his team now gear up for a phase of growth in the Middle East, Choe remains dedicated to the vision with which he began this journey: to share this innovative technology with a world that is battling climate change. "We are committed to continuous innovation to achieve higher yields with less water, less labor, and reduced greenhouse gas emissions with many crops. To maintain a strong human connection with our customers, we focus on creating solutions that address their specific challenges, such as water scarcity, and work closely with them to ensure successful implementation and long-term benefits. Ultimately, our goal is to be a trusted partner in their journey toward sustainable agriculture."

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