Today, Wednesday, the Saudi State Investment Fund announced that it has signed an agreement with US-based AeroFarms to create a Riyadh-based company that aims to build indoor vertical farms in the Kingdom, as well as the Middle East and North Africa region.
The agreement aims to promote the optimal use of natural resources and agricultural land. By applying closed vertical farming methods that do not require the use of arable land and use 95% less water than traditional farming methods, ensuring abundant crop production.
The partnership is expected to help ensure the high quality of local crops throughout the year through the use of AeroFarms smart farming technology as the company aims to establish and operate many farms in the region over the next few years. The annual production capacity of the first farm in the Kingdom is expected to reach the equivalent of 1.1 million kilograms of crops and be the largest of its kind in the Middle East and North Africa region.
The agreement is in line with the strategy of the State Investment Fund, which aims to develop and empower promising sectors, including the food and agriculture sectors, as well as the localization of new agricultural technologies and the development of the food industry in partnership with the local private sector in order to help improve the Kingdom’s trade balance and strengthening the position of the Kingdom in the field of vertical farming in the region.
Majid Al-Assaf, Head of the Consumer Goods and Retail Sector at the State Investment Fund’s General Investment Department for the Middle East and North Africa, said: East and North Africa, through which we aim to contribute to increasing the region’s dependence on high quality local crops, which will be produced in a sustainable manner in accordance with the latest technologies.
He added: “Through this agreement, the State Investment Fund aims to promote the growth of the food and agriculture sectors and localize relevant technologies in a way that contributes to providing opportunities to the private sector.”
For his part, AeroFarms co-founder and CEO David Rosenberg commented: “Our mission is to grow the best crops. We founded AeroFarms to help find solutions to the biggest agricultural problems around the world, and we are very pleased that the partnership with the Public Investment Fund for building the first vertical farm in the Kingdom, especially in light of the challenges facing the agricultural sector due to limited fresh water and arable land, and we believe that together we can build smart indoor vertical farms in the Middle East and North Africa.”
AeroFarms, a leader in vertical farming, has a worldwide reputation for indoor vertical farming and the construction of high-performance farms to produce high-quality agricultural products using the latest advanced technologies. The company also includes a team with a high level of experience in research and development.
