Mega greenhouses stand amidst the deserts of the United Arab Emirates and Saudi Arabia, where water is scarce. With water-saving solutions such as closed greenhouse systems and innovative irrigation, local food production is increasingly feasible. The know-how , techniques and professionals that are needed for the implementation of such high-tech greenhouse projects are coming from abroad, and in Armela Farms’ case from Westland in the Netherlands.
Armela Farms
With its hydroponic cultivation of pesticide-free red and green lettuces, Armela Farms is on a mission to promote healthy living in the United Arab Emirates by offering consumers fresher, tastier, and longer-lasting greens and lettuce. The high-tech greenhouse, designed and constructed by Van der Hoeven, includes several cutting edge technologies, like the fully automated MGS growing system, plant evaporation recovery through cooling, and the optimized control over light levels through advanced screening systems. According to Yazan Abu Jaish, COO of Armela Farms, this technology supports the sustainable, year-round production of 4.5 tonnes of premium-quality and uniform lettuces per day, with a minimum use of water.
Close collaboration
Van der Hoeven Horticultural Projects coordinated the design and construction of the turnkey greenhouse. The result is a fully automated and robotized operation, from seeding and transplanting to shifting and harvesting, producing an average of 4500 kg of green and red lettuces daily. “And we do this with just 25 workers, whereas at a typical low-tech farm we need 45 workers to produce just 500 kg per day,” he says .
This impressive outcome is thanks to close collaboration between the technology suppliers and also Yazan himself. As a qualified and experienced agronomist, he already had a clear idea of what was necessary to achieve the results he wanted.
“Unlike many investors who often see a high-tech greenhouse purely as a business venture, I had first-hand knowledge and experience in low-tech cultivation. Therefore, I was aware of the challenges and what was needed to optimize the microclimate inside the greenhouse. This enabled us to reach agreement on the final specifications together,” he says.
Expansion
Now that Armela Farms can produce premium-quality full-head lettuces all year round, it has secured supply agreements with major clients including grocery retailers such as Carrefour, Spinneys and LuLu, as well as supplying to leading hotels and restaurants through wholesalers and catering suppliers. It currently has a 75% share of what is locally produced for the UAE market. “However, that’s only 4% of the total consumption; the rest is still imported, so there is still clearly a lot of potential for further growth in this market,” says Yazan. Needless to say, we’re looking forward to working with Van der Hoeven and the other partners on these future projects,” he concludes.
Collaboration between the water and food sector
As the world is facing challenges with both food and water security, Van der Hoeven Horticultural Projects is actively engaging with and reaching out to the water sector to join hands in tackling these challenges. Van der Hoeven develops high-tech turn-key greenhouse projects all over the world, in some of the globe’s most extreme and water-scarce regions. Van der Hoeven’s specialty lies in the design, engineering, project management, construction, advisory and operations of complex and circular greenhouse projects for a wide range of crops, such as tomatoes, bell pepper, cucumber, leafy greens and more. A recent development has been Circular City Greenhouses, large-scale greenhouses that operate on upgraded waste streams.
