ADQ’s AgTech Park rolls out vertical farming project

According to Your Story Gulf Edition, Abu Dhabi-based ADQ, an investment and holding company, has announced the operational phase of its AgTech Park ecosystem with the rollout of a vertical farming project. The ZERO project grows crops in vertical layers in a controlled environment.

The benefits of vertical farming include a higher yield, briefer growing periods, and lower usage of water. It aims to bring the production of a broader variety of fresh produce geographically closer to the consumers in the UAE, as per a press release shared by Zawya. The idea is to enhance indoor farming locally and promote desert-climate farming in the UAE. This includes strengthening the local production of crops for various applications such as biopharmaceuticals, fresh food, and nutraceuticals.

Housed in the AgTech Park, the farm has been launched in collaboration with Italy-based tech firm ZERO, and is situated in KEZAD (Khalifa Economic Zones Abu Dhabi Group). Within the coming year, additional sites exploring various technologies will be launched in Al Ain Industrial City. It will be retrofitted in a 1,000 sqm warehouse and is expected to achieve an initial production volume of an estimated 10 tons per year at the proof-of-concept stage.

This pilot phase is expected to wind up by the summer of this year. Afterwards, a 40,000m2 commercial phase of the vertical farm is anticipated to be launched in Al Ain, alongside other projects which will feature controlled-environment technologies. At full scale, the 200 hectare AgTech Park will annually target production volumes of more than 40 kilotonnes of fresh fruits and vegetables. These will account for up to 6% of the total consumption of the UAE and 12% of import of the nation's import of the produce grown within the park.

“The project will contribute to the National Food Security Programme and help establish Abu Dhabi and the UAE as the regional hub for food," commented Captain Mohamed Juma Al Shamsi, Managing Director & CEO of the AD Ports Group. “The technology used in the park for the first time in the UAE explores new solutions to help tackle the challenge of sustainably farming in arid and desert climates, allowing us to contribute to not only shortening but also ‘greening’ the food value chain," said Gil Adotevi, Executive Director of Food and Agriculture at ADQ.