Second research centre opens in Middle East

Late 2016 the second horticultural research center for the Middle East in Riyadh, which also has been designed by the business unit Greenhouse Horticulture of Wageningen University & Research has gone into operation. This centre is three times larger than the one in Abu Dhabi.

Also on this location different levels of technology ranging from low tech to high tech will be researched. The primary research topic will be on water saving but also food safety will be addressed. The centre has special facilities for the research on
biological control. The business unit Greenhouse Horticulture of Wageningen University & Research is training the technical and operational staff for the centre. For the research a team will be trained which is going to work closely together with the team from Wageningen in the coming years.

The research results will not only be valuable for the Middle East but also for the rest of the world including the Netherlands since the climate is very stable specially the solar radiation. For example in the Netherlands the solar radiation varies from day to day which directly effects the research results. Furthermore the closed greenhouses which are available on this location allow an exact analysis of the resources input for example the carbon dioxide uptake by the crop.

Source: Wageningen University & Research