Digital City Farming and Social Entrepreneurship: Promising

Projects for Sustainable Development of Russian Regions

S. A. Goryunova

, Yu. V. Safronova

and V. N. Shchennikova

Institute of Law and National Security,

Russian Presidential Academy of National Economy and Public Administration, Moscow, Russia

Keywords: Social Entrepreneurship, Digital Economy, City Farming, Hydroponics, Aeroponics, Aquaponics.

Abstract: The article considers the possibility of organizing digital city farming in the regions of Russia, using

hydroponics, aeroponics, and aquaponics, as part of the implementation of social entrepreneurship. The

strengths of city farming are noted, as well as the problematic points, that arise when cultivating crops without

soil in urban conditions. The authors pay special attention to the characteristics of the social entrepreneur of

the future, noting, that in the context of digitalization and globalization of the economy, he must constantly

look for new solutions, bright ideas, competitive projects, aimed at solving social problems and providing

support to socially vulnerable and seeking help people. The article focuses on the sustainable development of

Russian regions by means of implementing digital city farming projects, which not only ensure food security

of the regions of our state, but also create conditions for the implementation of an import substitution policy.

1 INTRODUCTION

Currently, digitalization has a significant influence on

the economic and social development of the entire

world community. Any information is now presented

in digital terms, and the rapid development of digital

technologies and innovations creates opportunities

for the effective functioning of the digital economy,

the main components of which are:

 supporting infrastructure (hardware and

software, networks, telecommunications);

 e-business (any processes, carried out by an

organization through computer networks);

 e-commerce (on-line transfer of goods)

(Mesenburg, 2011).

Dudin M.N. and Omarova Z.K. note, that the

digital economy determines the digital transformation

of all spheres of life, providing them with significant

economic and social effects, which, in turn, opens up

new opportunities for the development of

entrepreneurship (Dudin and Omarova, 2019).

Digital entrepreneurship is entrepreneurship,

using new digital technologies (especially social

https://orcid.org/ 0000-0001-8004-5900

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networks, large amounts of data, as well as solutions

for mobile devices or “clouds”) (Dudin and Omarova,

2019), which are the core of the digital economy

(Figure 1).

Goryunova, S., Safronova, Y. and Shchennikova, V.

Digital City Farming and Social Entrepreneurship: Promising Projects for Sustainable Development of Russian Regions.

DOI: 10.5220/0010585900450052

In Proceedings of the International Scientiﬁc and Practical Conference on Sustainable Development of Regional Infrastructure (ISSDRI 2021), pages 45-52

ISBN: 978-989-758-519-7

Figure 1: The digital economy as part of the global economy (International cooperation, 2021).

Recently, both in the regions of the Russian

Federation and throughout our country as a whole,

digital entrepreneurship has been actively

developing. In this research, special attention will be

paid to potential social projects in the field of digital

city farming, as the most popular way of cultivating

agricultural crops in urban conditions.

2 RESEARCH METHODOLOGY

The work is presented using analytical materials and

statistical sources, empirical and analytical

generalization of educational and scientific literature,

the use of comparison, classification of economic,

legal and social concepts, synthesis of significant

events in the field of food security.

3 RESEARCH RESULTS

In order to study the issue of digitalization of the

Russian economy and the use of new generation

technologies, attention was drawn to the Federal

Project "Digital Technologies", approved on May 28,

2019, by Protocol No. 9 of the meeting of the

Presidium of the Government Commission on digital

development, the use of information technologies for

improving the quality of life and conditions for doing

business, is aimed at creating the so-called "end-to-

end", that is, key digital technologies, that have the

most significant influence on the development of

markets.

End-to-end digital technologies include: new

production technologies; industrial internet; artificial

intelligence; wireless technology; robotics

components and sensorics, etc. (Digital economy,

2021).

It should be emphasized, that any digital

technology will work only after receiving a certain

digital signal, which is converted in an integrated

infrastructure (network) and then follows a certain

route. This requires network personal communicators

(PCs), which are combined into a network and create

a new integrated infrastructure for information

transfer, based on digital signal processing and packet

traffic management means (Figure 2).

In the State Research Center of Russia "Central

Research Institute of Robotics and Technical

Cybernetics", design work has been fully completed

and there are first prototype models of PCs, that have

passed certification according to the requirements of

the Federal Service for Technical and Export Control

(Lopota et al., 2021). In the short term, networked

PCs will appear in Russia, which will make it possible

to transfer information with high digital accuracy and

extensively control equipment, devices, installations

without human participation, combining computers,

office, household, industrial equipment, all kinds of

sensors, video surveillance cameras, etc. into the

networks.

ISSDRI 2021 - International Scientiﬁc and Practical Conference on Sustainable Development of Regional Infrastructure

Figure 2: Action of network personal communicators (PCs) (News channel, 2021).

At present, the following systems successfully

operate, using communicators: “smart wallet”, “smart

calculator”, “smart home”, “smart restaurant”, etc.

Not everyone shares the view, that the digital

economy is effective.

Many are sure, that it poses a threat to the

population, since there is a gradual robotization of

production and the service sector, which will lead to

mass unemployment in countries, where material

production prevails.

The rapidly occurring changes in the world

economy and in the Russian economy cannot help but

take a toll on the activities of social enterprises. The

development of digital technologies will contribute to

their entry into electronic markets, the products

manufactured or the service provided, will soon

undergo huge competition, and the number of job sites

will be sharply reduced. However, these are realities

of the time, this process cannot be stopped, therefore,

the social entrepreneur of the future is simply obliged

to look for new solutions, bright ideas, competitive

projects, aimed at solving social problems and

providing support to socially vulnerable and seeking

help people.

As an interesting and promising social start-up, it

is necessary to propose several digital city farming

projects for consideration, that are possible for

implementation in the regions of Russia, which have

proven themselves not only abroad, but also in our

country, although still, as a commercial

entrepreneurship.

Half of the world's population and three quarters

of Russians live in cities, and this indicator is

increasing every year. It is becoming more and more

difficult for citizens to get fresh natural fruits and

vegetables for the table. Often, agricultural crops have

to travel many thousands distances before getting on a

plate to a potential consumer.

With the development of agriculture, the number

of inventions increases in order to simplify the work

of the farmer, advanced technologies for the growing

and cultivation of various crops at the lowest cost, but

with improved product quality, are developing.

City farming is the cultivation of greenery,

vegetables, fruits, berries, fish farming in urban

conditions. This requires special greenhouses and

installations using hydro-, aero- and aquaponics. With

this kind of plant cultivation, no soil is needed, and

there is no need for large water reservoirs for fish

farming, which creates conditions for farming in urban

conditions.

Hydroponics is a method of cultivating crops in

artificial environments without soil, by immersing

plant roots in water or nutrient solution (Figure 3).

Figure 3: Hydroponics installation structure (City farming,

2021).

Digital City Farming and Social Entrepreneurship: Promising Projects for Sustainable Development of Russian Regions

Hydroponic systems are placed on vertical farms

(in basements or on the roofs of buildings), where

greenery, cherry tomatoes, strawberries, radishes,

that is, low plants, that can be placed on special

shelves, are successfully cultivated.

Aeroponics is a method of cultivating

plants in

the air enviroment without using soil, in which

nutrients are delivered to the

roots of plants in the

form of an

aerosol. However, watering is carried out

using dripping irrigation systems, which saturate the

plants with water and nutrients, dissolved in it (City

farming, 2021) Aeroponics installation structure is

shown in Figure 4.

Figure 4: Aeroponics installation structure (City farming, 2021).

Aquaponics is a new high-tech agricultural

technology, that combines both the cultivation of

plant products and the production of fish products

(Figure 5) (Prospects for urban farms, 2021).

Figure 5: Aquaponics installation structure (Prospects for urban farms, 2021).

ISSDRI 2021 - International Scientiﬁc and Practical Conference on Sustainable Development of Regional Infrastructure

Aquaponics is an artificial ecosystem. In it, a

person himself (aquaponist) balances the impact of

abiotic components (temperature, light, water

hardness, pH, etc.) on biotic components.

The world has already learned how to use

aquaponics. So, the largest farming project in Europe

is a vertical farm in Hague in the former six-story

Phillips office, vegetables and microgreenery are

grown on the roof, and fish are fed on the 6th floor

below.

Ideally, city farming solves the following tasks:

 ensuring food and economic security of the

country, including import substitution of

products;

 year-round cultivation of fresh and useful

agricultural crops, without chemical fertilizers

and additives;

 presentation of a wide range of agricultural

products;

 increasing the yield of crops cultivated

regardless of weather (external) conditions and

human factor;

 saving water, in fact, 95% less water is

consumed, than when cultivating crops in the

ground;

 fast delivery to the consumer, logistics and

resources saving;

 saving space due to close and story placement

of agricultural crops;

 saving land area, water reservoirs;

 reducing the time and physical spendings for

cultivation of crops;

 forming ecological thinking;

 the forming a healthy lifestyle;

 automated cultivation and tendance.

However, it should be noted a number of

difficulties, arising in the running city farming, which

must be taken into account by the entrepreneur in the

course of planning and organizing a social enterprise:

 rather large financial costs for the purchase and

maintenance of special automated equipment

and devices;

 equipment failure leads to a large loss of yield;

 the penetration of viruses and bacteria

contributes to the complete loss of yield;

 manual pollination of crops;

 large yields can be obtained only when using

greenhouses, and it is rather difficult to work in

them due to high temperatures and humidity;

 crops cultivated may still contain pesticides

and nitrates, that unprincipled farmers add to

nutrient solutions. This is why many

consumers are distrustful of products,

cultivated without soil;

 lack of highly qualified personnel by

profession of "City farmer".

Thus, the profession "City farmer", according to

the Atlas of new professions, posted on the website

http://atlas100.ru/catalog/selskoe-khozyaystvo/, will

officially appear in Russia before 2021.

In a number of regions of our country (Bryansk

region, Vladimir region, Voronezh region, Moscow,

Novosibirsk region, Nizhny Novgorod region), work-

study sites (centers) are actively being created, where

students, youth, unemployed citizens have the

opportunity to get additional education by profession

of "City farmer". Students acquire the skills to work

on metalwork, soldering, electrical equipment, master

the work with measuring instruments, installations

for the preparation of solutions of a given

concentration, study marketing, management,

principles of operation of modern equipment

(automated greenhouses, hydro, aero or aquaponic

systems).

All equipment for city farms is developed using

digital technologies and innovations, systems are

controlled through an integrated network by special

consoles, smartphones, electronic devices, and digital

signals are coming directly to personal switches

(described above). This equipment is mainly

produced abroad (city farms from the companies

Tower Garden, Philips, Naava, Click & Grow

(average cost is 4,800,000 rubles), but Russian

developments also appear (Troysun smart home farm,

"CityFerma" (average cost is 2,500,000 rubles).

Automated phytomodules, phytocabinets,

phytoboxes (price range is from 3,000 to 80,000

rubles) are also popular.

Digital city farming is a popular niche for social

entrepreneurship, whose activity is aimed at

achieving socially useful goals and solving social

problems of society (Federal Law, 2019).

Let us consider the main characteristics of the

projects “Digital City Farming: Hydroponics”,

“Digital City Farming: Aeroponics”, “Digital City

Farming: Aquaponics”, which are possible for

implementation, which have a social orientation and

imply the appearance of visible social effects.

Our main consumers:

 socially vulnerable and seeking help people

(single parents and parents with many children,

low-income citizens, disabled people and

persons with disabilities, parentless children,

pensioners and people nearing pension age);

Digital City Farming and Social Entrepreneurship: Promising Projects for Sustainable Development of Russian Regions

 people with a special diet (with diabetes

mellitus, eating raw plant foods (vegetarians,

vegans);

 mothers, older people, athletes who eat healthy

food, etc.

Product range:

leaf lettuces ("Lolla rossa", "Dubolistny",

"Skorokhod", "Robin" and 11 other types of

varieties); basil (green, red, and premium); arugula

(wild and cultivated); parsley, celery, green onions,

cilantro, dill, sorrel; leaf chard; "pepper" mint,

"Melissa"; wild strawberries and strawberries of fall-

bearing type; head salads and cabbage ("Frillis", "Pak

Choi", etc.); microgreenery and seedlings of grain

legumes; cherry tomatoes, hot peppers, carps,

perches, crayfish.

Production flow is all year round, regardless of the

season.

The goods can be sold both on the basis of

concluded contracts, and through the official website

of a social enterprise:

 to orphanages, homes for the disabled and the

elderly people; pointwise, socially vulnerable

and seeking help people (families with many

children and low-income families; people in

rehabilitation after severe operations; singles

with minor children, including disabled

children, parents);

 to social enterprises, where food is cooked or

sold (shelters, private kindergartens and

schools, family guest and leisure centers, social

rehabilitation centers, specialized sports and

travel companies for the disabled, etc.);

 to municipal educational and medical

institutions;

 to a sanatorium, holiday centres and health

centers;

 to cafes, restaurants, pizzerias, fast food

organizations, shops, offices, processing

plants;

 during the period of forums, gatherings,

conferences, competitions, etc.

Goods delivery:

 specialized road transport;

 specialized issuing points of perishable

products;

 pickup from the warehouse of a social

enterprise.

The cost of products in accordance with the price

list, presented on the official website, is for socially

vulnerable and seeking help people (categories will

be detailed on the company's website), prices for

products are reduced by 20-30%.

Payment:

a) cash and non-cash payments;

b) a flexible system of discounts is provided for

regular customers;

c) delay of payment for non-cash payment up to

10 working days from the date of receipt of the goods

by the buyer.

Specialized automatic equipment:

installation devices for hydroponics, aeroponics

and aquaponics, equipped with: thermal insulation,

heating, ventilation and air conditioning, LED

lighting, ultrasonic humidification, sensors and

controllers, automated fertigation and irrigation units

for nutrient irrigation.

Marketing: as marketing tools to attract buyers, it

is possible to use:

 distribution of leaflets and business cards;

 paid posting on social networks (popular

urban publics and groups) (Goryunova,

2019);

 managing the official website, conducting

promotions with the distribution of finished

products,



as well as sales funnel tools: lead magnet,

tripwire, upsell, upgrade and bundle.

Employment of socially vulnerable citizens (with

preliminary training in some specialties), the need of

a medium-sized enterprise: 60 - 90 people:

 disabled people and people with disabilities (2

people);

 single parents and parents with many children,

with minor children, disabled children (part-

time employment is possible, 10 people);

 pensioners and citizens nearing pension age (8

people);

 leavers of orphanages under the age of twenty-

three (20 people);

 persons released from prison and having an

unexpunged or outstanding conviction (20

persons);

 refugees and internally displaced persons (with

the possibility of providing housing, 10

people);

 low-income citizens (5 people);

 persons of no fixed abode and occupation (with

the possibility of providing housing, 5

persons).

Possible risks in the implementation of city

farming projects:

ISSDRI 2021 - International Scientiﬁc and Practical Conference on Sustainable Development of Regional Infrastructure

 violation of the cultivation technology

(incorrect composition of the nutrient solution,

failure in the irrigation system, power supply)

and storage of agricultural crops;

 entry of viruses and bacteria;

 poor pollination of plants.

Regional city farms in Russia: UrbaniEco,

Moscow; iFarm Project, Novosibirsk region;

"Agrorus", Bryansk region; "RusEko", Vladimir

region

Possible financial support for the presented social

projects: budgets of different levels, charitable

organizations (Russian and foreign), donations from

commercial companies, private donations, loans from

non-governmental organizations.

Possible non-financial support for the presented

social projects (information support from trusted

experts and consultants).

Possible state support for the presented social

projects: federal competitions, federal subsidies,

loans from government organizations, etc.

4 DISCUSSION OF RESULTS

Approbation of research results. The results and main

provisions of the research work at various stages of

its preparation were presented and reported by the

author at the following events:

1. "Summer School for Young Researchers-2019

"Planet Earth": - poster presentation "City farming as

a way to preserve the agroecosystem and ensure food

security in our country" (September 2019, distance

participation).

2. International research-to-practice conference

"The role of the state in the well-being of the

development of entrepreneurship and the formation

of economic interrelations in society" (c. of Minsk),

report: "Cultivation of crops in artificial

environments as a factor in maintaining human

health" (September 2019, in-person participation).

3. Regional research-to-practice conference

"State and prospects of socio-economic development

of Russia" (Kaluga branch of the RANEPA, distance

participation), scientific article: "Precision farming as

a way to solve the issue of food and economic security

of our country" (October 2019, distance

participation).

4. V International scientific conference of

students and graduate students "Speransky readings",

report: "Social entrepreneurship in Russia: problems

and prospects, RANEPA, December 2019, in-person

participation).

5. Open international student scientific

conference "SSC Moscow Polytechnic University-

2020", report: "Application of new generation

technologies in agriculture as a way to solve the issue

of food security in our country" (April 2020, in-

person participation).

5 CONCLUSIONS

In conclusion, I would like to note, that social

entrepreneurship is an integral part of the

development of the Russian economy, projects with a

social focus will always be in demand and accepted

in society.

Russian social entrepreneurs, operating in the

regions of the Russian Federation, should be offered

some recommendations:

 always look for new solutions, bright ideas, and

most importantly, competitive projects, aimed

at providing support to socially vulnerable and

seeking help people;

 not mess about the development of

documentation, a business plan, think over the

development strategy of your enterprise, its

financing, calculate the possible risks,

determine the circle of competitors, study

management and marketing;

 cooperate with municipal, regional and federal

services, enterprises, organizations;

 be responsive, hardworking, fair and decent

social entrepreneurs, do not forget, that there

are people next to you, who constantly need

your effective help and timely support.

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ISSDRI 2021 - International Scientiﬁc and Practical Conference on Sustainable Development of Regional Infrastructure