From South Korea to Viet Nam: Expansion journey of AI technology in agriculture

A platform "saving" about 30% of agricultural by-products

In South Korea, the B2B agricultural trading (B-good) platform developed by SNE Company has applied artificial intelligence (AI) to "save" around 30% of agricultural produce that was previously discarded, opening up a new direction for circular agriculture and the green economy.

The success of this model not only demonstrates SNE Company's technological capability but also affirms the role of AI in optimizing the agricultural value chain, from production and classification to consumption.

Building on that foundation, SNE Company has expanded into Viet Nam, selecting it as a key market in Southeast Asia to pilot the model of applying AI in agricultural product forecasting and trading. This step reflects the South Korean enterprise's long-term vision of accompanying the region's digital transformation in agriculture.

In Viet Nam, the company has established a representative office, recruited local personnel, and launched a project to digitize agricultural data, aiming to develop an integrated platform that connects data, markets, and farmers.

Mr. Chang SeHun, CEO of SNE Company, shared, "Each country has its own production conditions and data systems, but the need for information transparency and stable prices of agricultural products is universal. Viet Nam holds great potential for developing agricultural data models, so we chose to start here."

Viet Nam – Promising land for digital transformation in agriculture

Viet Nam is accelerating its national digital transformation program in the agricultural sector, aiming to build "smart agriculture – digital farmers – digital rural areas." The Ministry of Agriculture and Environment places emphasis on developing a data-based value chain, where all information on production, markets, and traceability is digitized, interconnected, and analyzed to serve decision-making.

However, in practice, most cooperatives and small-scale farmer households still record their production logs manually, including information on soil, water, fertilizers, pesticides, and care processes. This approach is not only time-consuming and labor-intensive but also lacks transparency and synchronization in quality inspection and monitoring.

Recognizing this data bottleneck, SNE Company has introduced its AI OCR (Optical Character Recognition) solution in Viet Nam. This OCR technology helps automatically identify and digitize data from handwritten forms, thereby enabling faster, more accurate, and transparent verification, storage, and retrieval of agricultural production information.

Currently, SNE Company is implementing a pilot proof-of-concept (PoC) project involving 10 staple crops such as cantaloupe, pineapple, and durian, with plans to expand the application to other agricultural products in the near future. According to Mr. Chang SeHun, the company is also developing a multilingual handwriting recognition algorithm that aims to achieve nearly 99% accuracy. This marks a significant step forward in the automation process of agricultural data.

Data – Foundation of circular agriculture

According to Mr. Chang SeHun, data is the "new oil" of modern agriculture, playing a central role in optimizing production and promoting the circular economy model, particularly in the field of agricultural by-product recycling (Food Upcycling). However, the availability of public agricultural data in Viet Nam currently remains limited, creating challenges for startups seeking to model for forecasting, management, and operational expansion.

The CEO of SNE Company emphasized, "If management agencies expand the provision of agricultural data in the form of open data, the entire agri-food innovation ecosystem will be strongly activated, moving toward a truly green and sustainable economy."

SNE Company – Suitable partner in Viet Nam's digital transformation in agriculture

With its experience in applying AI to agriculture in South Korea and its deep understanding of data characteristics and production models in Viet Nam, SNE Company is regarded as a suitable strategic partner in Viet Nam's digital transformation journey in the agricultural sector.

The company not only provides technological solutions but also seeks to collaborate with research institutes, cooperatives, and management agencies to build an open data ecosystem, supporting quality management, crop forecasting, and the creation of a more transparent market for farmers.

In the future, SNE Company hopes to contribute to Viet Nam's vision of "digital agriculture – green economy – sustainable growth," positioning technology as a new driving force for the nation's agriculture and farmers.

Additionally, building on promising results in Viet Nam, SNE Company also aims to expand cooperation to other Southeast Asian countries such as Thailand, Indonesia, and Malaysia, to share its AI experience and technology in agricultural management.