High Garden Started the Production of Edible Plants Using NASA Technology in Georgia
The company "High Garden" started growing food plants using NASA technology. Partners Nikoloz Gvaradze and Ivane Mtibelishvili attracted a 100,000-euro investment from an American investor to grow microgreens, Asian vegetable crops and other edible plants that are in short supply in the country and set up a vertical greenhouse with an aeroponics system in Georgia.
Nikoloz Gvaradze, the company's founder, told Bm.ge that the greenhouse started working only a month and a half ago, but the products are already distributed to 15 restaurants across Tbilisi.
"While observing the market, we understood from the restaurant business that they did not have a stable supplier in this direction. This was one of the reasons why we started a technology business. We know in advance how many kilograms we have to produce because we agree with the customer in advance how much they want to buy. Technologies allow us to bring the number of products corresponding to the demand. It's been a month and a half since we started sales, and we are already introducing edible plants to 15 restaurants. This is a cabbage-like family and we sell 100 kg of micro greens and baby leaves per week," says Nikoloz Gvaradze.
According to him, in the greenhouse, crops that are in short supply in Georgia are mainly grown, for which the demand is especially in the direction of Horeca.
"Our cuisine is developing more and more and the demand for different types of vegetable crops is increasing. We also bring Asian crops, which are either not available in the Georgian market, or are available in small quantities.
As for microgreens, we bring them separately. It should be noted that we do not use soil and this culture, like the rest, brings us to water. I control everything by phone. Air and light are controlled by computers. People's intervention is necessary only when sowing and picking plants", says Gvaradze.
Nikoloz Gvaradze, speaking about the different technology of growing seedlings, says that this technology is also used in other countries and they brought this different approach to agriculture in Georgia.
"This technology was first made by NASA. For example, there are many similar productions in America, Germany, and France. As for the system itself, it is available both in America and in China," he notes.