Pure Harvest Smart Farms in the United Arab Emirates grows tomatoes hydroponically. Sky Kurtz is co-founder and CEO, and spoke about their expanding plans on Dubai Eye.
The size of the pilot farm is just under 1 hectare. The output is up to 30 times more than a field farm would, so that is pretty significant. The farm will be increased by 17 percent by the end of this year, or at least that was the plan before the novel corona crisis.
The virus has an impact on the food supply chain, which has furthered the awareness for the need of the local production of food. That is a cautionary tale to governments and countries who rely on imports for food. When the food supply chains are interrupted, the situation needs to be managed, and, Sky says, "we are one of the many solutions in a situation with problems like that." Pure Harvest Smart Farms has been approached by a number of governments, including the UAE's, to have discussions about technologies and ways to deal with situations in which the food supply chains don't work as they usually do, "for which we are very grateful".
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