Plenty Unlimited plans to build five vertical farms in the UAE in partnership with a local investor to cultivate strawberries.
California-headquartered Plenty has entered into a joint venture with Mawarid Holding Investment, a subsidiary of the UAE’s publicly-listed Alpha Dhabi Holding, for the strawberry farms over the next five years.
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The total cost has been put at Dh2.5bn ($680.7m), with the first project investment valued at Dh500m. The indoor vertical farm in Abu Dhabi will supply the six-member Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC) countries, which include the UAE.
GCC countries import the majority of the food they consume because of a lack of arable land due to harsh temperatures. Crops grown in a controlled indoor environment such as vertical farms help to solve that problem, increasing food security for the local population.
Arama Kukutai, the CEO of Plenty, said in a statement: “The Mawarid team’s extensive expertise with agriculture and land management in the Emirates makes them a great partner to meet these dual opportunities, in a region that has long been poised to benefit from the promise of indoor agriculture.
“Plenty has built the most technologically advanced indoor-farming platform aimed not only at meeting year-round consumer demand but making it possible to build a long-term food security infrastructure that can adapt to the needs of regions like the Middle East.”
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By GlobalDataSet up in 2014 by Dr Nate Storey and former CEO Matt Barnard, Plenty is more accustomed to supplying leafy greens and herbs from its US farm network. The business has received past investment from a raft of private investors, and also Walmart and berries supplier Driscoll’s in the US.
Plenty said Driscoll’s has committed to purchase the strawberries produced at the first UAE farm, which will have an annual capacity of around two million kilograms of fruit.
Driscoll’s CEO Soren Bjorn said: “The Gulf region and the United Arab Emirates specifically have long been great markets for Driscoll’s, and this project will help ensure we can meet the demands of consumers in this market into the future.”
Construction of the circa 7,500 square-metre site is due to be completed in 2026. Plenty added the UAE farm will be the “world’s first commercial-scale vertical strawberry farm outside of North America”.
Plenty is due to open its own inaugural vertical farm for strawberries in Richmond, Virginia, later this year. It also has indoor farms growing greens and herbs in Laramie, Wyoming, and Compton in California.
Mawarid’s CEO Kashif Shamsi added: “This joint venture enables us to leverage the most advanced farming technology in the world to grow local food supply throughout the GCC, beginning with our home market in Abu Dhabi.
“Our global search for a sustainable solution to the challenges we face in the Middle East led us to the incredible team at Plenty.”
