Two agri-tech projects from Hong Kong are seeking to tackle some of the most pressing challenges facing agriculture, from resource scarcity and labor shortages to rising greenhouse gas emissions, while eyeing the US market for deployment.

The first is a regenerative, solar-powered air-to-fertilizer production platform developed by Amonova, a Hong Kong-based agri-tech startup with manufacturing on the Chinese mainland.

The system uses air, water and light to produce nitrogen fertilizer locally, allowing farms to reduce their dependence on large centralized production plants and long international supply chains.

"Our ambition is to change where fertilizer is made. Today, farmers around the world depend on nitrogen produced in a small number of large plants, often thousands of kilometers away," said Simson Wu, founder and CEO of Amonova.

Amonova is part of a delegation of the Hong Kong Special Administrative Region visiting Silicon Valley to showcase technologies and meet potential investors.

Wu said the core technology is a light-driven catalytic process that enables nitrogen fertilizer to be produced on-site, effectively "shrinking large factory systems into farm-scale units".

"The strongest use case is in regions that are highly dependent on imported fertilizer or fertilizer raw materials. Japan, for example, relies on imports for most of its major fertilizer raw materials, and South Korea also relies substantially on imported urea. In these markets, the value is not only the potential to reduce emissions but also greater supply resilience," he said.

Wu pointed to recent disruptions to transportation through the Strait of Hormuz as an example of the vulnerability of global fertilizer supply chains.

Wu said the technology could also help reduce the carbon footprint and environmental impact of conventional agriculture, an area where he sees particular potential in the United States.

California offers another potential use case because of its abundant solar resources. The state experiences periods when the grid cannot absorb all available solar generation, and surplus renewable electricity could be used to produce fertilizer, said Wu.

Tackling labor shortages

While Amonova is addressing fertilizer supply and resource efficiency, another project is targeting labor shortages that increasingly threaten agricultural production.

The "Intelligent Blueberry Harvesting Robot", developed by the Hong Kong Centre for Logistics Robotics, combines a dual-arm mobile platform with artificial intelligence to identify ripe blueberries, analyze suitable grasping positions and harvest the fruit without damaging it.

Andrew Young, head of the Hong Kong delegation, said the technology could have significant potential for deployment in the United States, where labor shortages have long been a challenge for agriculture, contributing to higher production costs and risks to crop harvesting.

"The equipment may just be a four-wheel mobile platform. But once you add different systems on top of it, it can be used to pick blueberries, strawberries and blackberries. You can also build a larger robot to pick cherries. All of these applications are possible," said Young, vice-chairman and managing partner of IPG Capital, which focuses on green technology and robotics.

Young said the two projects reflect what he sees as a direction for Hong Kong's emerging industries: focusing on high-value applications while leveraging the Chinese mainland's deep, highly competitive industrial supply chains.

Rather than competing directly in basic manufacturing, Young said Hong Kong could focus on more precise, smaller-scale, higher value-added products, building strengths in areas such as system integration, software, and specialized applications.

Contact the writers at liazhu@chinadailyusa.com