UAE: Food factory to produce tomatoes by next year
But one new entrepreneurial venture has a bold solution on the table. Pure Harvest, cofounded by Sky Kurtz, a former private equity investor based in Silicon Valley, and his Emirati business partner Mahmoud Adi, plans to bring the latest hydroponic farming techniques to the UAE.
And this, they say, could eventually lead to the country becoming a food exporter.
The operation – funded by a US$1 million investment from Shorooq Investments, Mr Adi’s family investment vehicle – has bought a farm in Nahel, a rural town about 30 minutes north of Al Ain. A $2.5 million to $3m fundraising round is in the pipeline, which Pure Harvest hopes to complete in January. If that goes ahead, the venture plans to install the latest high-tech farming kit on site, and could be harvesting its first crop – tomatoes – next summer.
"It is a factory, not a farm," Mr Kurtz says of the proposed facility.
Pure Harvest’s first production centre plans to incorporate the latest Dutch technology – although Mr Kurtz says a supplier has not yet been signed.
The Dutch have a long history of innovation in horticulture, with many of today’s leading greenhouse technologies and hydroponic methods originating from Holland, says Mr Kurtz.
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