Software turns containers into vegetable gardens

The computer program helps a software engineer become a high quality clean vegetable manufacturer even without owning fertile land.

After selling the telecommunications company in 2008, Matt Liotta - a software engineer in the city of Atlanta, Georgia, USA - started thinking about the new business idea. During a visit to a supermarket in the city of Atlanta, he found that most of the supermarket fruits and vegetables came from other states or countries, Enterpreneur reported.

"Most of the lettuce that Americans buy comes from the state of California. The demand for lettuce is huge, but I did not find a large-scale lettuce farm outside California , " he said.

Matt Liotta in PodPonics company headquarters.(Photo: Enterpreneur)

After that discovery, Liotta thought that he should apply programming ability to cultivation to become a vegetable supplier to the city of Atlanta.

In 2010, Liotta designed a computer program to control light , temperature and humidity in containers to grow lettuce. He bought 4 old containers to test lettuce in a car park. Lettuce grows after a few days.

"In just a few days, a research project has become a business opportunity , " he said.

Liotta earned $ 1.7 million from investors to set up PodPonics and expand production. He rented a barren, wild strip of land in Hartsfield-Jackson Atlanta International Airport to grow vegetables.

"A normal farmer will never be able to grow on this barren soil. We want to prove that, thanks to technology, people can produce agricultural products without having good land , " he said. to speak.

PodPonics now produces 62 tons of fresh vegetables every year. In addition, the company also expanded its vegetable growing activities to Dubai - home to one of the people contributing capital to the company.

"Our vegetables seem younger, greener and tastier because they grow in an ideal environment," Liotta said.