The Hidroleaf project consists of developing factories of vegetable crops in intelligent containers. The main purpose is to convert the containers for cultivating with low energy LED lights. The objective is to take advantage of 100% of the water and fertilizers, do not throw anything, until the water transpired by plants will be condensed by cooling systems to reuse it. It can be grown regardless of the weather outside, either 50º or freezing temperatures.

The main advantage is that vegetables could be grown in any country without the need to transport the product long distances as usual. The production will be constant at any season and will not require the use of pesticides, so the cultivated crops will be much healthier.

Hidroleaf is a collaborative project between entities and companies of the Region of Murcia. Led by the agricultural companies (Rufepa and RITEC) that have high experience in solutions for protected crops in greenhouses. One of the most innovative technology companies in the region, Odin Solutions S.L. is in charge of providing crop sensing systems and controllers for the automation of drainage, fertilization and irrigation processes. OdinS has more than 10 years dedicated to the design, development and implementation of monitoring and industrial process automation solutions. It is also part of the consortium of Cebas-CSIC Plant Nutrition Department that will contribute their experience for the accurate monitoring of oxygenation, humidity and PH crop parameters. As well as the Department of Information Engineering and Communications of UMU in charge of developing the comprehensive management platform with all the information received and user interfaces.

The project is funded by R&D&i Society Challenging National within the Ministry of Economy and Competitiveness and FEDER  European Funds.