Welcome to the Desert Control Q4 2023 and year-to-date company update webcast. It will cover the Q4 report and interim financial results for the fiscal period that ended on December 31st, 2023. Some updates for Q1 2024 will also be included. A Q&A session will follow the presentation, and we invite you to use the Q&A function to submit questions. Before the official Q4 update agenda, Desert Control's CEO will share a brief company presentation as an introduction.
I want to start by paying tribute to Desert Control's co-founder and inventor of LNC, Kristian P. Olesen, who passed away on the 7th of January at the age of 75. Kristian played a pivotal role in establishing Desert Control, and as the company's largest shareholder through Olesen Consult AS, he contributed to his insights as a member of the board of directors until his passing. We extend our deepest sympathies to Kristian's family, friends, and all who were fortunate enough to know him. His remarkable contributions to Desert Control and the world at large will be remembered and cherished forever.
The vision born from Kristian's work to make Earth green again keeps driving the Desert Control journey and shapes how we target bringing our LNC solution to the market in ways that are good both for the bottom line of our clients and good for the planet at the same time. Today, more than 20% of Earth's dry land are degraded, with more than 52% of agricultural land affected. The annual cost of droughts and land degradation is $ hundreds of billions, and according to the United Nations, we keep losing another 12 million hectares of fertile land to desertification and degradation events every single year. Growing food and maintaining plant life also requires water. Agriculture already consumes more than 70% of all available freshwater resources on Earth, and when more soil turns to sand, even more water is needed to grow food and maintain life.
Maintaining green landscapes, parks, golf courses, irrigated forests, and supporting new tree planting and reforestation initiatives further adds to the water demand, creating a cycle that current practices cannot sustain. As water stress intensifies, we therefore focus on building the foundation for the adoption of our innovation in geographies where the value of our solution is the highest. The problem we address focuses on the lighter, sandy soils, degraded lands, and desert regions where the soils are very thirsty and very little water is retained. When irrigating these soils, less than 15% of the water remains in the topsoil long enough for plants to make use of it. Most of the water is quickly lost to deep drainage, causing fertilizer washout leaching, continued degradation of the soil, increasing input costs, and declining productivity.
Liquid Natural Clay, LNC, is a nature-based solution to upgrade sandy soils' ability to retain water and nutrients. It's well known that clay-rich soils retain a lot of water, but mixing clay into sandy soil is difficult. We have therefore invented a patented process to create a liquid clay and mineral compound nearly as thin as water for easy application. This liquid can be applied to agricultural fields, trees, and green landscapes in the same way irrigation water is applied. The liquid seeps deep into the ground, coating each grain of sand with charged mineral platelets and creating a soil structure that retains water and nutrients like a sponge. This process further creates a favorable habitat for soil microbiology that can kickstart the soil's natural regenerative processes. LNC is produced on-site with mobile processing units and delivered as a turnkey service.
It's a one-time treatment that can last for five years or longer with maintenance programs. LNC saves up to 50% on water and energy usage while improving nutrient efficiency, leading to higher yields, better plant quality, and increased profit. Projects have documented increased yield and quality while using less water for dates and a wide variety of fruit trees and permanent crops. As a nature-based solution, LNC is certified for organic farming and has also shown significant results for vegetables and open-field crops. Wheat, millets, alfalfa, corn, and any plants in arid, sandy climates can be grown more sustainably. LNC can also add compounding benefits in combination with precision irrigation technology and controlled environments like greenhouses. A unique advantage of a liquid solution is the ability to apply it to existing landscapes without damaging or needing to remove established vegetation.
The liquid will seep through surface vegetation and permeate the soil around the root zone of the plants. Tree planting initiatives can also demand significant water, and unless we create a solid soil foundation, many of these trees will not survive. With LNC for soil regeneration, we have proven a reduction in water use combined with an increased survival rate of trees. We've also treated established trees and forests. Projects in Abu Dhabi, as an example, have achieved more than 50% reduction in water use, with additional benefits from increasing the number of days between the irrigation events. Witnessing firsthand the transformation of desert sand into green oases is truly inspiring, and it shows that there is hope for overcoming many of the challenges we face.
The total addressable market for LNC services is huge, and our initial focus is the United States and the Middle East, targeting sandy soil areas affected by drought and water scarcity. Initial clients are farmers, landowners, and governments. Once again, thank you for joining us. I am Ole Kristian Sivertsen, CEO of Desert Control, and I will now take us through today's agenda, which has four parts. First, I will present Q4 and year-to-date highlights. Next, Leonard, our CFO, will take us through the financial update. Then I will share a brief outlook before we close with the Q&A session. We will structure the Q4 and year-to-date company update into three sections: corporate, United States, and Middle East. 2023 was marked by operational milestones and strategic restructuring, increasing the balance sheet by more than NOK 100 million of added liquidity.
As a result, we closed the year with a cash and financial asset balance of NOK 120 million, which, combined with the transition to the licensed operator model for the Middle East and an annual reduction of operating expenses by approximately NOK 20 million, extends the runway into the second half of 2025, excluding revenues. During the past year, we also achieved significant efficiency and scalability improvements for our LNC technology, which I will come back to in a few slides. Further, the five-year validation program with the University of Arizona is nearing its midterm report, and I will also share more details on the recent winter crop harvest later in the presentation. In the United States, we secured commitments for five new pilots also in the fourth quarter, maintaining consistent pilot acquisition throughout the year.
With 10 of the 20 pilots secured during 2023 implemented, we are continuing to expand our insights with a growing variety of crops and application scenarios, and the deployments are also adding to our experience in ways that drive significant operational and efficiency improvements. Last but not least, an important highlight is the progress with Limoneira. After pilot testing of LNC since 2022, they concluded to move forward with LNC deployment, and the first commercial orders for 60 acres of the Yuma Ranch for the upcoming season were received on the 31st of January, 2024. For the Middle East, we completed the final phase of transitioning to the licensed operator model during the fourth quarter. Key technical personnel have moved from Desert Control Middle East to partner entities, ensuring retention of expertise in the region.
The growing momentum with the licensed operators, as evidenced by Mawarid Desert Control having secured its first commercial agreement in the UAE and launched its inaugural pilot in KSA, combined with our licensed operator HART turning operational with its Saudi Arabia entity, Saudi Desert Control, with LNC production units and core team in place from early January, sets a promising tone for 2024. Let us now take a closer look at the achievements in improved efficiency and scalability of our technology before I share some more details from the University of Arizona program. We doubled the LNC production capacity per unit during 2023, which also impacted all existing units. So, with a base capacity that started with 15,000 liters per hour per unit, R&D efforts enabled the production capacity to reach 30,000 liters per hour per unit.
Some of you may remember that we previously talked about clusters and that one cluster had a capacity of 60,000 liters per hour. One such cluster was simply a grouping of four single identical LNC production units. These units can be deployed one by one or with multiple units grouped together if higher peak capacity is required by the specific job. Now, looking forward, R&D efforts continue to focus on increasing capacity, and we target another doubling of LNC production capacity per unit during 2024, which will continue to improve unit economics and scalability. Operational advancements have further increased the efficiency and scalability of LNC application. From 2022- 2023, we increased the application rate from 250- 500 trees per day, and for the upcoming Limoneira deployment, projections are set to exceed 1,000 trees per day, achieved with less labor and asset requirements for project execution.
These improvements are important as they contribute to making LNC deployments more scalable, and additionally, they make it possible to do smaller jobs at reasonable price points with acceptable margins. Turning to the University of Arizona program, we are now in the second year into the five-year validation and research study program with the university. The program is taking place in Yuma, Arizona, at the University Extension and Research Center, and it looks at the transferability of previously LNC results from the UAE and Middle East while also considering additional factors such as the longevity of various LNC formulations under rotational crop farming practices. That means that there are a minimum of two crop rotations per year with tillage, disking, and bed preparation between each planting of new crops.
We also look at planting with both direct seeding and with transplant of seedlings into the soil, as well as gaining experience with a variety of different crops. The field is designed by randomized complete block design, and we have three different LNC formulations in the ground and a number of replications of each treatment for statistical power. We have soil sensors in every block and plot and flow meters to measure the amount of water in the various plots to ensure solid data collection and control of the program. The latest crop was now romaine lettuce, which is an important high-value crop in Yuma. The harvest was recently completed, and I'm sharing here some interim data, and I remark that the season's results are still being analyzed and evaluated.
We also did romaine lettuce in the fall of 2022, and I have included the results for comparison and some preliminary observations. So, what we see is that LNC clearly increases the soil water holding capacity, and by looking at yield factors for treatments that have received the same amount of water and nutrients, we can measure estimates of increased water and nutrient use efficiency. In simple terms, how many kilos or pounds of produce do I get per unit of water and nutrient spent? What we are learning based on the preliminary results is that LNC formulation is a key factor as well. For this season, the LNC D formulation indicates a 55% higher yield and water nutrient use efficiency over the control, which is fairly consistent with the results from 2022, where it gave a 53% increase versus the control.
This is also an early positive longevity indication for this specific formulation. Formulation LNC A and B show indications of being more exposed to the impact of tillage and soil disturbance and show less impact over the control in this season compared to 2022. It is worth to notice that the total yield and average size and weight of each individual romaine is still larger for all the plots in this season compared to 2022, and that for the first time, we're actually seeing produce at market spec comparable to farming in the more fertile soils down in the valley grown in basically sand up at the Mesa Research Station.
This season, we have also added some organic inputs to the nutrient program for certain plots such as compost, and we're making early-stage observation of synergistic effects of LNC in combination with organic inputs that will inspire additional research in this area. I will come back to this a bit later in the presentation as well as it's a very exciting topic. Now, this is, as mentioned, a 5-year program, and we target a midterm report after completing the analysis of the first full 2-year data sets. We're aiming for the first publication during the second quarter this year. We are excited about the learnings from this collaborative program with the university and findings along with the way we contribute to shaping here also our ongoing R&D to create optimal formulations to meet specific objectives.
I'm also very excited about this because clearly it shows that know-how and adoption of the LNC innovation through formulation and adaptation to local conditions are more valuable than patents alone and also much more difficult to copy. I also want to share some more in-depth updates on the developments in the United States in general. Starting with Limoneira, we're very excited that after pilot testing of LNC since 2022, Desert Control on the 31st of January this year received a purchase order from Limoneira to apply LNC for 6,552 trees over 60 acres at the Yuma Ranch for the upcoming season. This marks an important milestone as the first entirely commercial adoption of LNC in the United States, transcending the pilot program phase.
I want to highlight the comment from Edgar Gutierrez, Vice President of Farming Operations at Limoneira, who said that their decision to expand LNC deployment in Yuma is a testament to the effectiveness and scalability of Liquid Natural Clay in enhancing soil health. He said that this technology optimizes the use of natural resources, paving the way for more sustainable and profitable desert farming practices. The two keywords from his comment that I want to underscore are scalability and soil health. Demonstrating scalability for the implementation of LNC at their ranch has been essential. When we deployed the first pilot in 2022, it took us 3 days to apply LNC for 50 trees, and at this level, it would have been impossible to roll out on any larger scale. When we later in the year deployed LNC at their Cadiz Ranch, we got to 250 trees per day.
In Q1 2023, deploying LNC for the pilot of 2,000 trees in Yuma, we reached 500 trees per day. For the upcoming project, we anticipate surpassing 1,000 trees per day with less labor, less equipment, and less production assets compared to the previous projects. This increase in efficiency and scalability was key to Limoneira's decision to move forward with LNC. Secondly, I mentioned the word soil health, and I want to emphasize that Limoneira's decision is motivated by way more than saving water. Limoneira views water conservation as very important for the sustainability of their business, but the cost of water in Yuma is still low. Farmers in southern Arizona may pay as little as $20 per acre-foot of water, while the total water-related costs Limoneira had at the Cadiz Ranch were north of $1,000 per acre-foot of water, including energy and pumping costs.
So the decision to move forward with commercial LNC rollout is therefore rooted in both water conservation and, more importantly, the potential of LNC as a core building block in the cultivation of soil health that over time will continue to increase in value that will be reflected in the overall yield and quality of their produce, contributing to growing climate-smart lemons with less inputs and less strain on natural resources. I also want to highlight that Limoneira is a purpose-driven innovator, and in the theoretical model of the law of diffusion of innovation with the famous bell curve theory as illustrated in this picture, they are among the initial 2.5% of the market. Limoneira's decision to move forward with the LNC rollout after pilot testing therefore marks an important milestone in the commercialization of LNC in the United States.
Further, I want to say that the collaboration with Limoneira goes beyond a vendor-client relationship. The insights of the pilot testing phase bring value to both parties, and our continued collaboration will open doors to even more added and additional areas to strengthen the sustainable impact of our innovation. As of Q4, 2023, we have, on the general basis of the pilot programs, secured commitments for 20 technical pilots in the U.S. By the end of the year, 10 of the pilots were implemented, with the remaining planned for LNC application in 2024. The 20 pilots are split between agriculture with various crops and initial landscaping pilots, as highlighted in this slide. In the following slides, I will share some more technical data on LNC performance from pilots. As I mentioned, under the University of Arizona program, LNC clearly increases soil water holding capacity.
This is reconfirmed by soil sensor data from our various pilots in the U.S. Here, we can see data from a citrus ranch where the green bars in the left-side graph show the volumetric moisture content retained in LNC treated soil compared to the orange bars showing the same data for soils without LNC. Looking at the relative improvement on the right-side graph, this shows a doubling of soil water holding capacity for LNC treated sandy soil compared to control without LNC. Here, we see an extract of soil sensor data from the citrus ranch shown by the green line on the top, how moisture levels are consistently retained higher over time for the LNC treated soil compared to the control represented by the orange line, also consistent with the data that we have seen in the previous slides.
Diving one level deeper, it's also interesting to see how the water distribution in the soil profile is impacted by LNC treatment. The bars here on the left side of the graph show volumetric water content retained at 10, 25, 40, and 50 centimeters depth. And then to the right, we see the same depths represented in a control without LNC. For this specific citrus application, we see a significantly higher retention of water in the upper 10 to 40 centimeters of the soil. And this is the layer where the most of the main roots of the citrus trees are. When considering the water movement of the control, we see that the water is quickly lost to deep drainage.
It moves down to the 40-55 cm depth and below much faster than the LNC treated soil, which is more of the opposite, retaining the water in the topsoil and losing way less of the water to deep drainage. This further indicates the potential of LNC to reduce the leaching of fertilizers and other inputs. Leaching is the process where fertilizers are washed out and lost to below the root zone to deep drainage, eventually ending up in the water system. Reducing such leaching is very valuable both for the environment and also for increasing the fertilizer use efficiency, ensuring that the vital nutrients are retained in the root zone where the plants can actually make use of them.
To show you some other application areas, we're now also looking at another soil sensor data set, but this time from a vineyard pilot, again with the green line representing the moisture level of LNC treated areas compared to the control without LNC in the orange line. So in addition to showing the potential for water conservation, in other words, less water will here be needed to maintain the desired soil moisture over time, this also indicates several other potential benefits. A more stable curve, as seen by the green line here, indicates also a more stable soil environment, and that can be very positive for reducing plant stress and further improve the conditions for the soil biology that over time can foster improved soil health and productivity.
To summarize the implemented agricultural pilots, I want to highlight that the water-saving impact potential we've looked at in the previous slide is only the starting point. The bigger impact is driven by what the change of water movement in the soil can lead to in a more holistic perspective. For the agricultural pilots in the U.S., this is even more relevant as water continues to remain cheap for most farmers, as mentioned in southern Arizona, as little as $20 per acre-foot of water. The focus of these pilots therefore target factors additional to water savings, such as improving the efficiency of nutrients and other inputs, the reduction of fertilizer leaching, lowering soil salinization, energy and operational efficiency gains, and the long-term benefits of improving soil health and the associated impact on increasing yield and land value, which is strengthened by multiple seasons and longevity data.
Given these considerations, we are excited about the continued development of the total benefits for the agricultural sector by extending R&D interactions with the continuous learnings from these pilot programs over multiple seasons. As mentioned previously, this adds significant value to our know-how and formulation data that by far exceeds the value of patents alone, which also is far more difficult to copy. In parallel with continuing the pilot programs in the U.S. agriculture sector, we are excited about the results from early-stage pilots in the landscaping and golf sector. Pilots on the initial golf courses in the Yuma, Arizona area continue to demonstrate positive water savings and improved root and turf health. This slide shows NDVI satellite data indicating the health of the grass, where the greener color and higher score indicates a richer plant canopy, in this case, a greener green.
To the left, we see a control area that is receiving full irrigation. The image in the middle shows a control area that receives half the amount of water, and the far right image shows the LNC treated green with the same water reduction as the image in the middle. This clearly demonstrates that turf grass can be maintained healthy and green with way less water. For the golf sector, this shows promise because most landscaping users pay a lot more for water than agricultural users. While a farmer in southern Arizona may, as mentioned, pay as little as $20 per acre-foot of water, landscaping users in southern California and Nevada may pay from $1,000-$3,500 for the same amount of water. This means that for the landscaping sector, water savings alone may provide sufficient economic benefits to justify LNC investment.
We are therefore adding additional resources and hiring salespeople for a focused development effort of this sector for 2024, targeting specifically the high-water users in the high-water cost areas in Southern California and Nevada. Now turning to the Middle East, where the start of the year has kicked off with a positive tone. During Q4, we finalized the transition to the licensed operator model, and we moved the key personnel from the Desert Control Middle East entity to the partners in UAE and Saudi Arabia, which is great both for the retention of expertise and also as the foundation for the collaborative platform between Desert Control and our partners. Both our partners, Mawarid Desert Control and Saudi Desert Control, are now operational. Mawarid Desert Control has secured the first commercial project in Abu Dhabi for 3 million liters of LNC, and they recently also launched their first pilot in KSA.
Saudi Desert Control has the first four production units together with the core team in place. They turned operational in early January, and momentum is building for the year ahead. As previously announced, we have transitioned fully to the licensed operator model for the Middle East. That means that all sales and distribution of LNC in the region is done through the local partners, Mawarid Desert Control and Saudi Desert Control, under royalty-based licensing agreements supported by Desert Control in Norway. For more details on the licensing model, please refer to the detailed FAQ published on our website. The Middle East is home to 6% of the global population, and they have less than 2% of the world's renewable freshwater resources. As a result, this region is under severe water stress, which is only predicted to continue to increase in the decade ahead.
Therefore, we are seeing several opportunities where the benefits of water savings alone will bring substantial value from LNC investment in this region. This is evidenced by, for example, the government, municipalities, and water authorities in the UAE now starting to enforce payment for water consumption with increasing tariffs. In Saudi Arabia, we are seeing enforcement of government-regulated meterings of private wells and groundwater consumption as well, also with increasing tariffs. So through our local partners, we believe that LNC can add significant value to users across both landscaping, forest management, and agriculture, and we are excited about the opportunities ahead. With that, we will now turn to the financial update, and I pass it over to our CFO, Leonard Chaparian.
Thank you, Ole Kristian, and good morning to you all. The figures are shared in detail in the financial report published earlier this morning.
These financial key figures will be covered in more detail in the following slides. The company closed the fourth quarter with a positive cash balance of NOK 119.6 million and has no interest-bearing debt. These figures encompass both the ongoing and the discontinued operations of Desert Control. It is important to highlight that the revenues depicted in this section are the net result of our transactions with our Middle Eastern partners, HART and Mawarid. The figures have been adjusted to account for goodwill and assets held for sale. We have, within this quarter, recognized the majority of the accounting implications of this transaction. In the Q4 report, we have continued distinguishing the financials between ongoing and discontinued operations. The financial figures have been thoroughly split to provide transparency for the readers. A more detailed overview of the discontinued operations will be presented later in the segment.
The net financial items this quarter have been significantly impacted by the strengthening of the Norwegian krone towards the end of the year. Following the near completion of our operational winddown in the Middle East and the shift to a licensing model, the assets held for sale category on the balance sheet now stands at zero. This indicates the full recognition of the transactions connected to the licensing agreements and the related assets within this quarter. Other current financial assets consist of fixed income funds, and as mentioned earlier, cash and funds in total amounts to NOK 119.6 million as of the end of 2023, and we have no interest-bearing debt. With the robustness of our financial standing, we are sufficiently funded to support our operations into the second half of 2025. Paid-in capital for this quarter amounted to NOK 75.5 million as anticipated in the previous quarter.
This consists of NOK 67.5 million from the private placement issue and approximately NOK 8 million from the subsequent repair issue. In the cash flow statement, there are notable adjustments in receivables and liabilities, which reflect the settlement of licensing agreements by our partners in the Middle East, as well as the net income recognition of these transactions. This part of the cash flow statement also incorporates the effects of share issues in Q4, in addition to changes in assets primarily regarding discontinued operations. No other significant sources of capital have been added through the fourth quarter. As previously anticipated, our activities in the Middle East, as reflected in the discontinued operation note, have now undergone the forecasted decline. Ceasing our Middle Eastern operation has resulted in substantial cost savings, with expenses now approaching zero.
We have recognized the bulk of the financial impacts from the regional exit within the current quarter's figures, as evidenced by the net revenue adjusted for goodwill and assets held for sale. Reclassified Other Comprehensive Income, OCI, is the main component of the financial expenses for discontinued operations. For further information regarding the Q4 financials, please see the full Q4 report. The development of the Desert Control share and the top 20 shareholders are updated at our webpage, desertcontrol.com/investors. Thank you.
Thank you, Leonard. We will now turn to Outlook before we close with the Q&A. For Outlook, I'll also structure this under Corporate, United States, and Middle East. From a corporate level, we anticipate substantial progress for the LNC technology in 2024, backed by commercial deployments in the Middle East, ongoing pilot programs and deployments in the U.S., and targeted development to support broader agricultural and landscaping adoption. We're also committed to driving further improvement in capacity, scalability, and unit economics for the coming year. As mentioned previously, we anticipate another doubling of LNC production capacity per unit, also for 2024. On the R&D side, we're also seeing early results, especially with nature-based additives in LNC, that indicate significant potential to extend the benefits of LNC way beyond water savings, which sets the scene for an exciting year ahead.
The short-term focus in the U.S. is to complete the implementation of the Limoneira project, finalized by April 2024. We're also excited about the continued development of the agriculture pilot program to showcase LNC's multifaceted benefits while launching the parallel focused activities to develop the landscaping and golf course segment in southern California and Nevada. The Middle East focus is to enable now our local partners to establish and grow the regional business through support programs, R&D efforts to advance LNC formulation, and technology development to keep improving unit economics and production capacity. Revenue generation in the short term is anticipated to be limited, with cautious growth expectations that anticipate the development of a run-rate business of initially smaller partner-driven projects.
While some large opportunities in development may represent an upside, timelines for substantial revenue growth remain fluid, representing the inherent unpredictability of the market dynamics in the region and the time it takes to get to substantial commercialization efforts. So in summary, the year ahead is viewed with cautious optimism, shaped by the strides made across operational domains, pilots, technology developments, advances of our business and go-to-market model, and a fortified financial position. Before we move on to the Q&A, I want to reiterate my excitement about the R&D pathway we are on to really develop the total potential of LNC. The objective of LNC is to change the physical properties of sandy, light, degraded, and thirsty soils. Now, these are soils depleted for organic matter with very limited biodiversity.
Our objective is to use LNC as the foundation to kickstart the natural regenerative processes of the soils to cultivate a living, healthy soil. So if we imagine sandy soil as a jar of large marbles, there will be very big void spaces of air between the marbles, as illustrated in the left image in this slide. This is why water filters through and is lost very quickly. What we are aiming for with LNC is to introduce clay minerals without filling up these void spaces. Imagine if you poured a thin slurry of clay in here, it would create a concrete block that basically blocks everything. So the way that we have solved this is by introducing the clay in tiny platelets that attaches to the sand grains visualized as these marbles.
The next step is the initiation of something called clay bridge bindings between the larger particles, which is the beginning of the formation of soil aggregation. Now, when we change also the pore structure of the soil, the size of these void spaces between the marbles, from large macro pores seen on the left side to a healthy mixture of smaller pores on the right side, this creates a significantly better habitat for the soil biome and for all the living species in the soil that drives the productivity and health. This also increases the total surface area, and the clay particles introduce surface charges and increase cationic exchange capacity, all working together to create the multifaceted benefits that I have talked about throughout the presentation. I thank you for bearing with me for spending more time on science and results of the pilots today.
There's clearly an exciting future onwards for this pathway.
Thank you, Ole Kristian. We will now start the Q&A session. We invite you to use the Q&A function for questions, and we will also use the questions that you have already been submitted by email. So I'll start with the first one. The Yuma ranch of Limoneira is around 1,300 acres with approximately 120,000 trees. And Desert Control has received a commercial project for 6,500+ trees. Can we expect Desert Control to win business for the rest of the 113,000 trees?
Yes. So as mentioned in both the press release and in previous communication on the Cadiz Ranch, there is ongoing fallowing and forbearance programs of part of the farm. So we expect the ongoing rollout of LNC to be aligned with these fallowing and forbearance programs. A fallowing program means that the water authorities, local governments, are funding the cessation of farming activities on parts of the land for a defined period. That means that they need to turn the area completely barren. They need to remove any trees that are on this part of land so that they are guaranteed not to use a single drop of water. It's actually illegal to put a single drop of water on the fallowed land while they are under the fallow programs. And then when these fallow programs end, it will be split up segment by segment, blocks by blocks.
We anticipate the continued rollout of LNC aligned with the replanting of these areas.
Thank you. Next one. Can you elaborate a bit regarding the status and process of pilots signed in 2023 with regards to progression, their evaluation, and possible decisioning? And do you expect some of them to enter stage two during the first half of 2024?
So I've shared a good status in the presentation here and invite you to also revisit the slide on the distribution of the various pilots. As I mentioned, 10 of the 20 pilots were implemented by the end of the year. So there is a natural backlog of that since many of them were secured late in the year. And we need to align the implementation with the farmers' farming programs, rotation, and preparation of the land between the cropping seasons, etc. So we still have 10 pilots from last year targeted for implementation now in the new year. And I must say the engagement with all of the pilot clients are very positive. They're all positively committed to continuing the program for looking at what I talked about, these multifaceted benefits way beyond the water savings throughout the year.
We will share progress as they evolve towards later stages as things develop.
Thank you. And then the other question is about UAE. Is it possible to say something about the commercial contract in the UAE in terms of contract size and its revenue net to Desert Control from the license model?
Well, the Middle Eastern business in general now is completely driven by our partners. So Desert Control as a company is not making any contractual connections directly to the end users there. Everything is handled by the partners. And we leave all the communication on details of those contracts to our partners. What they have shared already is that the size of this initial contract is for approximately three million liters of LNC, which gives you an opportunity to calculate the size of it. It's a landscaping opportunity for a development project where water savings will be an important driver of that. And I think as we see the implementation coming through, to be prepared to see more details from our partner on the project.
When it comes to the financial impact on this in the revenue model of the licensing program, I invite you to refer to the FAQ, where also details on how to look at sort of percentages and royalty calculations are shared in more detail.
Thank you. A follow-up to U.S. and the pilot progress. Out of the 20 pilot projects won last year, which ones are the closest to moving towards a commercial pre-project?
So I think as I shared in last quarter's update, where we see the sort of strongest value proposition of the pilots are in permanent crops, the higher value crops, and yeah, selected areas where we're also targeting the development of increased land value or land use value, especially when it comes to yield, which is a key focus for many of these, combined with land value. That naturally requires to have a couple of seasons of data collection to be able to start indicating the longevity of these. But I would remain focused on highlighting the permanent crops as our number 1 area of the agricultural pilots, evidenced by Limoneira moving forward after two years of piloting here as the strongest developments.
Thank you. I also have a question, something by email. Can you elaborate on your relationship with Estidamah and the NEOM project? Have there been any pilot projects with these actors?
Well, when it comes to Estidamah, which is more a broad Saudi Arabia entity and also NEOM, I would say talking about NEOM, it's an initiative that I think is extremely visionary and that I follow eagerly on social media with their developments. But when it comes to talking about sort of LNC-related direct developments of any opportunities there, I refer again to that we are now developing this market through our partners. And I will defer sort of detailed communication about these opportunities to be handled by our partners.
Thank you. Also, another question sent by email. There are several ongoing grants from, among others, the National Institute of Food and Agriculture around the $300 million funding pool. How do you work to ensure that LNC is accepted for agriculture grants?
Yeah. So this is also a key sort of facet of the University of Arizona program because these grant programs, they require to have a documented impact that is validated by independent parties where publications, scientific publications, peer publications, and work done by universities are a key qualifying factor for that. So this is one of the reasons why we are very focused now to, together with the University of Arizona, get to the first publication during the second quarter. If you remember back, we had a similar question on this irrigation efficiency grant program that we have started to engage with in Arizona, where the next stage we need to pass there is also the same publication of a peer-reviewed report. So we're making progress in these areas.
We also have engagement with these government entities through various government relations programs to make sure that we are being positioned in a way to qualify for being part of important incentive schemes, right? As you probably understood from my earlier presentation, water in agriculture in the U.S. and many other places in the world is a bit of a political area, lots of subsidies around it. And therefore, aligning with these types of incentives are an important priority for technologies for water conservation. In parallel, we're also seeing that the governments are experimenting with significantly increased water tariffs for agricultural use. We've seen that in one specific region in California where they've increased it to close to landscaping rates with significant impact on investments in water-conserving technologies in that small region.
We're also seeing the same, as I mentioned, in the UAE and the Middle East with increasing regulations and tariffs on water.
Thank you. Then another question here is sent in. Well, someone who understands that you're currently looking for sales personnel aimed towards the golf courses. But could you share some information about the size of opportunities and expected market size within that segment, as well as some information on the experiences the company has gained from the golf course pilots?
Yes, absolutely. So the landscaping market is a substantial market. If you do a market research just looking at some of the landscaping services companies in the U.S., you'll find multiple multi-billion dollar companies serving that industry. So it's definitely a large market. I think if you look at one small specific segment of that market, like golf courses, I think the United States has more than 18,000 golf courses, with a high percentage of those in sort of arid and sandy regions like the U.S. Southwest and places like Florida. The areas where water prices are extremely high cover a huge number of opportunities in Nevada and Southern California as well. And in addition to the golf courses, there are, of course, also a lot of other sort of privately owned type of entities that have huge green spaces.
I'm mentioning sort of privately held because we're also looking for simplified decision-making processes. So you have all the different campuses, all the different sports facilities, and more high-end luxury landscaping areas. And then there is a huge sort of sector of parks and urban greenery, etc. So I would say the areas that we're talking about here are substantial, both in the United States and also in the Middle East and other addressable markets.
Thank you. Next question is regarding the results from the University of Arizona and the R&D progress. Can you elaborate around if you see fertilizers as a potential add-on with LNC? If so, would this be a huge potential wouldn't this be a huge potential collaboration market for Desert Control?
I definitely believe that sort of the organic inputs, fertilizers, and nutrient programs are potential areas for significant collaboration where LNC can add value. Remember the slide where we looked at how LNC retains the water in the top 10-40 centimeters of the soil instead of the control where it's being washed out. Retain the nutrients in that zone, reduce fertilizer leaching is a priority from a regulatory perspective. Many areas are introducing nitrogen taxes to reduce the leaching and the runoff of chemicals and fertilizers and pesticides. So we definitely see that as an area of opportunity. I think when we look at the synergistic values as well from indications of the university program collaboration and the recent harvest where we looked at these synergistic effects with organic inputs like compost, etc., that it shows great promise.
I think this is all connected to the greater play of really developing a soil that can retain these important nutrients, but also create the right habitat for the soil's natural biodiversity and create a regenerative living soil. I think if we also look at areas in addition to sort of the traditional fertilizer programs, there is a lot of development in the regenerative agriculture space where the majority of the large ag players and large fertilizer companies are investing significant efforts. This is seen through initiatives that we hear about like biologicals, etc.
If you go back to my picture of the big marbles versus the tighter filtered sort of better pore structure, we clearly see a very promising area where we can make sure that these types of progresses made by the ag industry in general actually also can be impactful in these sandy, lighter soils, both through the initiatives that we are working with through our pilot programs and also through potential collaborations with other industry players.
Thank you. Yeah, a few minutes left. One question here is, could we see an extension of the Limoneira partnership before year-end 2024?
Well, I think on the Limoneira, we'll be developing an alignment with the fallowing programs. I think a clearer picture of that will evolve as we get closer to the summer on which areas will go in and out of fallowing programs. Right now, we're focusing on the exciting opportunities of getting this first 60 acres deployed, which is a great milestone. And I mentioned that we're seeing other collaborative opportunities there. When we think about sort of the ability to combine LNC with bringing other inputs to the fields, will also be future areas that we are going to be working with on the site with Limoneira. So a lot of promising developments will come from this relationship.
Thank you. Another question submitted by email. Can you elaborate on your work towards the state actors in the Middle East and North Africa and progress? And when do you imagine that these types of agreements would become relevant?
Yeah. So as I've said previously, there are 110 countries of addressable market around the world. I think there are huge opportunities land-size-wise on the Sahel side, the Great Green Wall initiatives, and other projects with state players, NGOs, United Nations, etc. But to build a solid foundation, we don't want to spread ourselves too thin. So we are very focused now on these selected areas in the Middle East and empowering our partners to truly be successful in bringing the value of LNC to these markets, as well as our initiative to continue driving the development in the United States. So the way we work with these other programs is that we have good relationships and we are engaged in discussions to look at how we can take this innovation in a more distant future and sort of stage two and stage three to these markets.
We'll also be engaging with our partners to look at how we can potentially accelerate certain markets in that segment as well.
Thank you. I believe our time is up. There's a lot of questions coming in. I don't think this time we'll be able to answer all of them. Thank you for the engagement. Thank you for answering all, Kristian.
My pleasure. So let me then flip back to the shared screen here. So we've now been through the Q&A session. We will look if there are still questions coming in to answer some of them by email and in the final transcript as well. So stay tuned for that coming out in a few days, probably early next week. So before we close the session, I just want to make sure you take note of the disclaimer relating to forward-looking statements. And in closing, I want to extend our deepest gratitude to our team, our employees, partners, customers, and investors for unwavering support throughout a transformative year and looking forward to 2024. We're excited about the opportunities for impacting water conservation and soil regeneration. So thank you all for joining the Desert Control Q4 2023 and year-to-date company update presentation.