A look inside Emirates’ Bustanica, world’s largest vertical farm in Dubai

Gulf News

By the end of this month, UAE residents will be able to savour ‘ready-to-eat’ greens produced at Bustanica, the world’s largest vertical farm recently opened by Emirates Crop One (ECO), it was announced on Tuesday.  Read the full story here: https://gulfnews.com/uae/watch-first-look-inside-emirates-bustanica-worlds-largest-vertical-farm-in-dubai-set-to-hit-the-uae-market-by-month-end-1.89817226  See more videos at https://gulfnews.com/videos Read more Gulf News stories here: https://bit.ly/2HLJ2km  Subscribe to Gulf News on YouTube and watch more of our videos: https://www.youtube.com/user/GulfNewsTV  #UAEnews #farming  #verticalfarm

Transcript

00:00Bistanika is the world's largest vertical farm that's recently opened in Dubai.

00:22The Bistanika facility is set over a 10,000 square metre footprint.

00:27This gives us 31,000 square metres of operational and production area.

00:31The facility is designed to produce in excess of a million kilos a year.

00:35We're going to market with seven different cultivars, four lettuce and three non-lettuce.

00:41So as well as airline products for on-board use, we'll also be pushing our product into

00:46the retail market, into supermarkets, etc., in the very near future.

00:56We're here at the largest indoor vertical farm.

01:00Basically we're taking the basic principles of hydroponics in terms of the sustainability

01:04elements that we're able to incorporate.

01:06We're then also making it vertical, so obviously you'll see the scale within the facility.

01:11This allows for major efficiency in terms of our output, but most importantly being

01:16able to control the quality that goes out as well.

01:20Our controlled environment, agricultural environment that we have here, is definitely going to

01:23be the differentiator for us compared to the market.

01:26So the ability to control every element allows us to produce the best quality products.

01:31So that's taste, nutrition-wise.

01:33One of the other benefits for us is that our product is ready to eat from harvest.

01:37So the fact that we're able to harvest and then give it straight to the consumer, we're

01:41also local so it's a very short time frame, they'll be able to eat it as fresh as possible.

01:46That will be a major unique feature of our product.

01:48So ready to eat, healthy products.

01:51Within the facility, we have 27 of these modular grow units.

01:54Each one can hold around 45,360 plants.

01:57So when we ramp up to full production, we're looking at around 1.1 million plants being

02:02grown at any one time at different life cycles.

02:04Having the ability to have multiple rooms ensures that we reduce the risk of any contamination

02:09within each room, but also increases that flexibility around what different cultivars

02:14we want to grow within the facility.

02:16We're going to begin with seven cultivars, so predominantly we're going to have four

02:19lettuce varieties, as well as a spinach, a kale, and arugula, or it might be known

02:23as rocket.

02:24And then within those, we're able to get multiple harvests.

02:26So another efficiency gain that we get from this setup is because we provide the optimal

02:31climate, we can get multiple harvests from each seed.

02:34We're also able to turn over the room, put in a new batch of plants, and we're able to

02:37do that several times throughout the year.

02:39So in terms of efficiency based on our footprint, it far exceeds anything that a traditional

02:44farming practice could do.

02:46One of the major elements that this facility provides is around food security.

02:51Obviously that's a major goal that the UAE has, and further to that, being part of the

02:55EKFC, that being part of the joint venture, that's extremely important to EKFC, being

03:00able to provide high quality product year round.

03:04So we're not limited based on any climate restrictions, and obviously we're providing

03:08optimal quality in terms of health and safety.

03:11So that's extremely important for us in our operation.

03:14In terms of water sustainability, we save 95% less water than a traditional farm.

03:19We're also capturing the perspiration within the air that's being recycled through our

03:22treatment facility, and then can be reincorporated for the plants to use once again.

03:27So anything that the plants aren't absorbing is being recycled within the system, ensuring

03:31that none of that water is lost.

Category

Transcript

Recommended