Netafim projects – extending activity in the global greenhouse market

'The greenhouse turn-key project market is ready to be further leveraged, as medical cannabis trend is reviving, and ag – investor opportunities rise', explains Ofer Inbar, Netafim greenhouse business director. 'Government subsidies are also a key factor in this market's and can increase and expand opportunities'. 
This interview took place during a tour we had at the company's demonstration and research Greenhouse park in Kibbutz Magal,
The tour began in the experimental and demonstration plot for various crops – ornamental plants, vegetables, orchards, sugar cane.
We  then moved on to see two state-of-the-art model greenhouses – a polyethylene covered greenhouse, and a glasshouse, where we were shown the most advanced elite technology in this sector.
At the greenhouse entrance locates a control room, with the most cutting edge irrigation and fertigation systems, water cleansing and climate control. most of these technologies were developed by Israeli ag-tech companies. Throughout the greenhouse tour, we learned about different irrigation and farming methods, including growing tomatoes and peppers on soilless substrate in hanging gutters, NFT hydroponics system for greens, and growing ornamental plants on ebb and flood tables.

Netafim is the largest irrigation company in the world, and was the first to introduce drip-irrigation. This innovative technology unquestionably changed agriculture forever, increased yields in many areas around the world in which water is a scarce resource, while saving on energy and labor resources. lately Netafim has developed and launched NetBeat™ ,an automated cloud-based platform that monitors ,controls and analyzes your farm and based on advanced agronomic models helps you to come up with an optimized irrigation and fertigation plan and execute it.

According to Ofer, many clients around the world use Netafim's irrigation products but have not yet been exposed to the company's full capabilities in greenhouse project management. Netafim has recently completed several advanced projects that reflects the company's variety end-to-end capabilities and its ever-growing presence in worldwide markets. a recent example is a project of 11 hectares tomatoes and cucumbers, recently completed in Kazakhstan. The project includes the most

advanced systems enabling quality cultivation year-round, "interplanting", and in addition, a one hectare nursery in which seedlings are grown using the flooding floor method.

Ofer Inbar notes that the greenhouse sector in Central and South Asia is developing rapidly, and in recent years has been soaring, thanks to the understanding that it's important to provide local market with the ability to grow basic crops locally – "local for locals" and not rely on import . The governments of some of these countries grant farmers a subsidy to build greenhouses, and  clearly that the result benefits both sides.

Netafim's positioning as a turn key project expert is improving steadily thanks to its good reputation, vast experience, global presence, expertise in agriculture, and the highly skilled agronomic and technical staff.
Netafim's success in the greenhouse sector is also related to the revival of the medical cannabis business. Ofer Inbar explains that behind the medical cannabis growers are VC's that acknowledge the advantages and importance  of high-tech greenhouses and are willing to invest. Setting up a project, explains Ofer Inbar, requires a full team to work systematically and professionally from the moment a contract is signed until the project becomes operational and is handed out to the client. Netafim has invested many resources to developed an advanced and comprehensive methodology for managing Greenhouse projects and is growing in both spread, quality and volume ever since.