A South Korea-based smart farming company backed by private investment firm IMM Investment will launch high-tech fresh food farming in Mongolia, according to reports in the Korean media. 

The venture is being launched after the war between the top global grain producers Russia and Ukraine highlighted the importance of food self-sufficiency. 

PlanTFarm, a portfolio company of IMM Investment, reportedly signed an agreement with Premium Group of Mongolia to jointly set up an agri-tech firm in Mongolia, the first of its kind in the country, Pulse news reported.

The JV project is to create and operate indoor vertical farms this year to grow and sell fresh vegetables in Mongolia.

PlanTFarm is a Korean vertical farming solutions company, in which IMM Investment has held largest stake since 2014. It was spun off from Farm8, the world’s sole company with a vertically integrated complete smart farming value chain to provide end-to-end services from producing, processing, and distributing salad vegetables, in 2020 to focus on the development of plant farming technologies.

PlanTFarm holds agri-tech solutions to produce crops in challenging environments by controlling external conditions such as light, temperature, and humidity. The firm came under the spotlight for its successful plantations in harsh environments such as subway stations and Antarctic base camps.

Kolmar BNH under Kolmar Korea invested KRW3bn ($2.3mn) in PlanTFarm after valuing the firm at KRW100bn in September last year.

Premium Group operates construction, mining, and logistics businesses in Mongolia and is a local partner of operations of Korea’s BGF Retail’s CU convenience stores in the country.