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Water scarcity in the UAE is second only to Kuwait in the Middle East, so when it comes to farming, a smart approach is required. Now high-tech, low-water agriculture is set for a new superlative with the announcement of the world’s largest vertical farm in Dubai – and the produce could soon be coming to a flight near you.
The 130,000-square foot, $40 million facility will begin construction in November, and is a joint venture between agri-tech firm Crop One Holdings and Emirates Flight Catering, suppliers of approximately 225,000 meals every day from its base at Dubai International Airport.
Emirates and Crop One say the facility will use 99% less water than outdoor fields, and once completed, aims to harvest 6,000 pounds of leafy greens daily, which will find their way into both in-flight meals and airport lounges from December next year.
courtesy Crop One Holdings
A joint venture from agri-tech firm Crop One and Emirates Flight Catering says it will build the largest vertical farm in the world. Scroll through to discover ambitious vertical farming and indoor farming projects around the globe.
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Spread, Japan -- Many view Japan as an early adopter of vertical farm technology. Spread, founded in 2006, says it shipped
7.7 million heads of lettuce across Japan in 2015, with the company reporting it achieved profitability in 2013.
Courtesy Aerofarms
AeroFarms, US -- Built in a converted steel mill in Newark, New Jersey, AeroFarms estimates the farm produces 2 million pounds of greens a year, using a method which requires no sunlight or soil and minimal water.
Square Roots
Square Roots, US -- Based in Brooklyn, New York City,
Square Roots grows food in shipping containers placed in a parking lot.
Square Roots
Square Roots, US -- Square Roots conducts a year-long training program in indoor farming, and says some of its past participants have gone on to start their own urban farming businesses.
FREDERICK FLORIN/AFP/AFP/Getty Images
Bunker Comestible, France -- Located in Strasbourg in a converted gunpowder warehouse, the organic farm grows mushrooms and greenery from seedlings.
Frederick Florin/AFPGetty Images
Bunker Comestible, France -- Inside "the edible bunker" a worker harvests oyster mushrooms. The company says the carbon dioxide generated by mushrooms in the bunker helps its green produce to grow.
courtesy Merav Maroody/Infarm
Infarm -- Infarm in Berlin builds compact hydroponic modular units for growing indoors that have found their way into supermarkets in the German city and around Europe. The company says its produce is 100% pesticide-free, and due to it being grown in supermarkets, cuts the time and distance between harvest and consumption.
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Sky Greens, Singapore -- Chinese Cabbage and lettuce are planted on this nine-meter tall, A-shape
aluminum frame.
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Sky Greens, Singapore -- The farm's first prototype was built back in 2009, with a fully-operational center in place since 2012.
Dan Kitwood/Getty Images Europe/Getty Images
Growing Underground, UK -- In an underground tunnel in Clapham, London, that was originally built as an air-raid shelter during World War II, micro greens and salad leaves are gown all year round by
urban farmers.
Illustration by Sweco/Plantagon
World food building, Sweden -- Swedish firm Plantagon says half this building will be used as an urban greenhouse.
Illustration by Sweco/Plantagon
World food building, Sweden -- The $40 million building will be completed in 2020, complete with a hydroponic farming system, which uses mineral nutrient solutions in water rather than soil.
It’s estimated the UAE imports as much as 85% of its food needs and only a small percentage of land is considered arable. Hyperproductive indoor vertical farming built close to the consumer is therefore an appealing concept on paper.
The process is “season-less” and grows produce 365 days a year. Plants feed on a nutrient solution instead of soil, and variables including temperature and humidity are tightly controlled in modular containers to generate maximum yield. Instead of the sun, LED grow lights are used.
Saeed Mohammed, CEO of Emirates Flight Catering, says the move “secure(s) our own supply chain of high quality and locally-sourced fresh vegetables, while significantly reducing our environmental footprint.”
Critics of vertical farms argue that they have high energy requirements. However, their carbon footprint can be reduced by powering them using renewable energy sources, and by increasing the efficiency of their LED lights.
Crop One confirmed its upcoming facility will use “a mix of renewable and utility source” electricity, and is targeting solar energy.
Leo Marcelis, professor of horticulture and product physiology at Wageningen University in the Netherlands, an academic unattached to the project, said there is a lot of research in the field into decreasing energy use in vertical farms.
“Lighting companies are working on LED technology to make the conversion of electricity into light better, and what we are studying is how we can grow plants with less light, or with the same amount of light and produce more plants,” he says. “We expect that systems will get more efficient in the coming years, because it’s all new now.”
Crop One is far from the only operator in the field of vertical farming, with outposts springing up around the world, many making eye-popping claims. AeroFarms touts an annual production capacity of 2 million pounds of greens from its 69,000-square foot indoor farm in Newark, New Jersey. California-based Plenty claims for certain crops, it can grow 350-times what a field can on the same footprint. Infarm in Berlin builds hydroponic modular systems that have popped up in supermarkets around the city.
Chris Dwyer
INSIDE THE FOOD FACTORY: The Emirates Flight Catering facility in Dubai is one of the world's largest airline food facilities, preparing up to 180,000 meals every day.
Aaron Darveniza
Emirates Flight Catering gets through 3.6 tons of lobster each year. Other fishy statistics include 80 tons of smoked salmon and 165 tons of salmon fillet.
Chris Dwyer
Three million items of dirty equipment are sorted and cleaned each day. Each year, the facility goes through 4 million hairnets and 23 million plastic gloves.
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"We change our menus every month, so annually there are 7,000 different menu items," says Joost Heymeijer, senior vice president of Emirates Flight Catering. "We have 254 different soups in first class alone."
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Some 24 tons of ice cubes are produced daily. That's equivalent to the weight of the bricks used in a small house.
Chris Dwyer
Heymeijer says it's a myth that pressurized planes environments mean food doesn't taste as good. He admits "certain subtleties you'd be able to taste on the ground you won't be able to taste in the air. But you can mitigate that by cooking with bold flavors."
Chris Dwyer
"We taste prodigiously," says Heymeijer. "Every three weeks I taste with a tasting panel, wines from all over the world."
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Other statistics include 260,000 liters of whipping cream, 15 million croissants, 550 tons of watermelon and 620 tons of pineapple used annually.
Chris Dwyer
Emirates announced last year it would invest $500 million over 10 years to procure wines en primeur and cellar them. On a daily basis it flies 60 different wines around its network.
Chris Dwyer
"We have absolute traceability," says Heymeijer. "We know everything on every dish on every flight."
Chris Dwyer
Snacks, sandwiches and pre-cooked frozen meals are all prepared at the facility. The shelf life from cooking to eating is just 72 hours.
Dickson Despommier, author of “The Vertical Farm” and professor emeritus of public and environmental health at Columbia University, says: “To see a major economic player like Emirates Airlines getting involved in an alternative to importing all their food is remarkable. The industry has grown to the point where they can actually do that and expect a return on their investment.”
Despommier adds that while bragging rights to the largest vertical farm have bounced around the world in recent years, size isn’t everything.
“To be honest, who cares who’s the biggest?” he says. “I want to know who’s the most efficient and who’s producing the (widest) diversity of plants that people actually eat, rather than just leafy green vegetables – which is what seems to be the gold standard right now for actually jumping off from non-profitability to profitability.”