No Chemicals, Less Water: This Farm Goes Vertical

Dubai, United Arab Emirates (UAE) is now home to the Middle East’s very first commercial vertical farm – marking a major step for alternative farming and improved food security in the region.

The vertical farm, called Badia Farm and built by Saudi Arabian entrepreneur Omar Al Jundi, produces two hundred boxes of vegetables a day indoors, in a controlled environment that uses 90% less water than open-field farming and that doesn’t call for the use of any pesticides or chemicals.

“As a region that has struggled to grow crops due to largely hostile desert landscapes, our farm offers a viable solution to farming that produces harvests 365 days of the year,” says Al Jundi. “The produce will not only be cheaper than imported goods, but fresher too, as the farms will be producing all year round.”

Such initiatives as the vertical farm not only help tackle the challenges that come with climate change and farming in the desert, but also help lower transport costs and carbon footprint in a nation that imports 90% of its food, according to the Abu Dhabi Global Environmental Data Initiative.