Farmers from Caleta Urco to Implement Innovative Power System for Hydroponic Production

The women of Caleta Urco, a town near Tocopilla, are leading an interesting business venture and diversifying the town’s production matrix. In addition to fishing, this group of women is delving into hydroponic agriculture, which is now being developed in a recently remodeled, modern greenhouse with forthcoming plans for enhanced technification.

Thanks to SQM’s collaboration, the “Las Urqueñas” group is developing sustainable agriculture in this coastal sector. Presented at a ceremony to commemorate International Women’s Day, the project (“Implementation of a photovoltaic power generation and energy storage system”) seeks to boost local agricultural production. The initiative is being executed by LitioHM, the third place winner in SQM’s second open innovation contest, More Lithium Less Footprint.

Pablo Pisani, Director of Communities and Public Affairs for SQM’s Nitrates and Iodine businesses, pointed out that this initiative is in line with the company’s community work axis, focused on promoting social and production development, with an interesting link to fostering the entrepreneurial and innovation ecosystem to provide solutions with high social impact in the territory.

“This initiative brings together our line of community work by renovating the hydroponic greenhouse, where we provide technical support through our Atacama Tierra Fértil Program, which is deployed in various territories in the regions of Tarapacá and Antofagasta. In addition, thanks to one of the winning proposals of our More Lithium Less Footprint contest, we can contribute solar panels and lithium batteries to this project, where this group of women has proven to be a great contribution to the development of their community,” added the executive.

In this regard, the CEO of LitioHM, Renato Vargas, explained: “we will implement a solar photovoltaic power generation system that uses lithium batteries manufactured by us for storage. This project is very important because we are helping bring farming to the desert, using energy with resources available in the north, where solar energy is abundant. We are in the right area and in the right place, where this linkage will benefit both the region and different communities, such as Caleta Urco.”

For Angélica Ramírez, president of the Las Urqueñas group, this announcement was a very pleasant surprise, adding that: “Thanks to SQM’s support, we have been able to renovate this greenhouse and with this project we will be able to improve its operation. With this contribution we will no longer have to use motors and we will have energy throughout the day, which is very useful and a benefit for the women farmers of our group and our community.”

Rachel Cortés, Provincial Delegate of Tocopilla, also attended the ceremony and highlighted: “In this activity we see two important aspects, the first is how we join this socio-ecological culture and how we actively and directly preserve these community spaces. In addition to this, we are seeing how the women of Tocopilla are taking a leading role in this type of project and how we are accompanying them to work together on these processes.”

Las Urqueñas was born as a group in 2017, as a recreational opportunity that began with a lettuce growing project. Seven women started with a basic vegetable garden system, which developed into a greenhouse system that is now moving towards a higher degree of technification.

This contribution is in addition to the renovation of its facilities carried out in 2022 in conjunction with SQM’s Atacama Tierra Fértil Program.