Israeli Ministry of Trade & Industry Chief Scientist's Technological Incubator ... SAB: experts from Water, Agronomy
'ROOTS Ltd. - Sustainable Agricultural Technologies' Israeli Ministry of Trade & Industry Chief Scientist's Technological Incubator funded company (*) Part of Abital Pharma line incubator (Formally: Nayot, Yokneam) Contact: Boaz Wachtel, Roots Ltd. - Sustainable Agricultural Technologies, Cel: +972544573679, Email:
[email protected], P.O. Box 3577, Kefar Netter, Israel
The future of Sustainable Agriculture is here • • • •
Experienced team: CEO - Sharon Devir, (PHD agricultural Engineering, Holland), former CEO from inception of the technological incubator NGT. CTO - Boaz Wachtel (M.A. Management & Marketing, U of MD, USA, water expert, Inventor). R&D manager - Erez Tzimhoni – (Engineer, Technion + MBA) Former Innovation Manager, R&D Department, Netafim. SAB: experts from Water, Agronomy, Solar energy & Thermodynamics disciplines.
Patented "Irrigation System and Method" NASA Tech-Brief's Magazine "Technology of the Month" Operated by solar (or other energy sources), the irrigation by condensation system is a standalone food production unit that recovers water for irrigation by condensing moisture/humidity, available in soil and air, on the external surface of pipes with cold water flowing through them. The irrigation system enables the production of agriculture products in places with medium-high relative humidity content and high ambient temperature. Even in arid deserts there is ample humidity at night to allow irrigation by condensation. The Irrigation system is a closed cycle, solar (or other) energy operated system that chills water in a water tank, powers a circulation pump to move the water in blind pipes on and just below the soil, parallel to row of plants during the hot season. This will produce condensation on the horizontal pipes placed in parallel to the row of plants, and produce similar effect like the puddle on the bottom of an Ice coffee cup in the summer. The system could be used during the winter to heat root zone and prevent cold damages to plants. The principles of cold water agriculture and irrigation with condensation were demonstrated and established in Hawaii with the use of cold sea water in blind pipes to produce condensation and root zone cooling. X3-4 crop cycles per crop including in grapevines and fruit trees were achieved. No external irrigation was needed besides the condensation from the air with most crops. The Solar based irrigation technology invented by us address many of the limitations of the cold sea water agriculture technology (for example – confinement to coastal areas and use of cold sea water in the pipes on the field) but is based on the same thermodynamic and agro principles. Uniqueness: The connection/relation between solar power and irrigation and the ability to produce irrigation as a byproduct of solar energy is a new concept with vast commercial and human implications. We have an off water and electricity grids, independent system that allows us to produce agriculture in places unheard off before. Problems the technology solves: 1. Growing water scarcity in agriculture, 2. Need to rely on water source or water grid to irrigate agriculture, 3. Inability of small and medium plot farmers to compete with big farms due to small economies of scale. This could be overcome with the multiplication of the number of crops on small and medium plots. 4. Mineral/salt laden water in irrigation that reduces soil fertility. Pure water (distilled) from condensate does not damage soil fertility – grid related irrigation water does. 5. How to produce more crops annually and more output per plant.
6. Plant protection from heavy heat loads in the summer and cold damages in the winter (the system can be used in the winter as a solar heating system and maintain optimal root zone temp with pipes placed near the roots). 7. Crops reach markets almost together – with the new system the farmers will be first to the market
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Roots Ltd.'s second technology, i.e. Root Zone Temperature Optimization, is ready for commercialization. Root Zone Temperature (RZT) Optimization System Chosen by 'World-Watch Institute' official Blog – Innovation of the Week. An innovative, tested (on multiple crops over a number of years, also with Netafim), environmentally friendly product to: 1. 2. 3. 4. 5.
Significantly Increase yield Improve quality Protect roots from heat and cold damages, stabilizes and cuts pick root zone temperatures Shorten growing cycle and possibly allow for early planting Save energy in greenhouses (compared with fossil based air/root heating and cooling systems) 6. Provide a quick ROI for farmers.
Soil temperature at 2 meters or bellow is almost constant year round. At such depth, soil temperatures is always warmer in the winter and colder in the summer then top soil temperatures and root zone temperatures. We have patented, developed and tested (7 crops, 3 beta-sites, 4 years – 20-140% yield increase) a closed system (one time water fill up), that maintains optimum or semi optimum Root Zone Temperature range in green houses and in open fields year round. This is done by installing inexpensive ground source heat exchange loops (“radiators”) and circulating the water with a pump to exchange heat between water and soil at depth and discharging the heat near the root zone. The result: the system “shaves” pick summer (cutting 11 Degrees Celsius in open fields) and winter (adding 11 DC also in greenhouses) temperatures near the roots. The product also mitigates severe cold and heat damages and extreme weather effects on the plants, especially on low lying plants. These achievements are obtained, for the first time, without investing any energy to cool or heat the water temperature, except for the little energy used to circulate the
water between the underground "radiators" and root zone with a pump. If solar pump is used, the RZT product is 100% environmentally friendly. In places where extra heating and cooling is needed to reduce water temperature in the summer and increase it in the winter we use high efficiency heat pumps, either as a standalone system or in combination with ground loops. IP and Technologies Two USA parent patents as well as international patents were granted in numerous countries around the world including in the EU, South Africa, Australia, China, India, Mexico, Argentine, Canada and Israel.
Root Zone Temperature (RZT) Optimization System
Heated roots row on the right Vs. unheated roots left (cucumbers, winter experiment)
Lettuce with cooled roots – open field, summer experiment
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