ZeroAgri AI Irrigation and Fertigation System

Routrek Networks is a Japanese IoT company founded in 2005 in Kawasaki, which moved from network remote-control products into digital farming. Its agriculture business targets greenhouse growers facing labour shortages and the difficulty of passing on expert irrigation know-how.

ZeroAgri is an AI irrigation and fertigation system built on Israeli drip-irrigation technology. It estimates plant transpiration from solar radiation and substrate moisture or drainage flow, then irrigates and fertilises in small, frequent doses. It retrofits into standard greenhouses for soil and hydroponic cultivation, with IoT remote management, cloud data and software updates. The range includes ZeroAgri Lite (entry remote fertigation), Standard and Plus, which adds control of vents, curtains, fans, heaters and CO2. Users include strawberry, tomato, asparagus, cucumber, grape and mango growers.

• Transpiration-based control: estimates plant water use from solar radiation and substrate moisture or drainage.
• Micro-dose fertigation: delivers water and liquid fertiliser in small, frequent doses through drip lines.
• Three tiers: Lite for remote fertigation, Standard for precise control and Plus for full climate control.
• Climate control (Plus): manages vents, curtains, circulation fans, heaters and CO2 injection.
• Cloud and IoT: remote management, cloud data storage and continuous software updates.
• Options and services: greenhouse sensors, irrigation kits, maintenance pack, soil analysis and ROI simulator.

• Greenhouse strawberry, tomato and melon farms in Lam Dong automating fertigation to cut labour.
• High-tech agriculture zones piloting Japanese-style smart greenhouse packages with Routrek as technology partner.
• Agribusinesses supplying export-grade vegetables that need consistent quality and recorded input data.

• Supports higher yield and quality by matching water and fertiliser to actual plant demand.
• Saves labour by automating irrigation, fertigation and, in the Plus model, greenhouse climate control.
• Turns growers' experience and intuition into data that can be shared with new farmers.
• Reduces fertiliser use and CO2 emissions through small, frequent doses.

Japan expects its core farm workforce to shrink sharply by 2040, pushing greenhouse growers toward automated irrigation and climate control. Similar pressures exist across Asia, where high-value greenhouse crops such as strawberries, tomatoes and melons are expanding, including in Vietnam's Lam Dong and northern provinces.

Routrek Networks was founded in 2005 and is based in Kawasaki, Japan. ZeroAgri launched in 2013 and has more than 470 units installed across 46 prefectures; its technology is patented in the US, Israel and Japan. The company runs Routrek Farm 1 and 2 in Iki, Nagasaki as test farms and also sells the RouteMagic network remote-control system.