Emirates built the world’s largest hydroponic farm to help grow veggies in the middle of the desert

Emirates Flight Catering (EKFC), the airline’s catering operation, announces that it is in a joint venture with an indoor vertical farming company, Crop One, for “the world’s largest hydroponic farm” called Bustanica.

Bustanica is a 330,000 square foot facility geared to produce “more than 1,000,000 kilograms of high-quality leafy greens annually”. It’s located near Al Maktoum International Airport at Dubai World Central, and according to Google Maps, it’s right smack in the middle of a desert.

The types of leafy greens that the farm grows include lettuces, arugula, mixed salad greens, and spinach. They are expected to be onboard Emirates flights—as well as on flights of other airlines that depend on EKFC—from July onwards.

“Emirates Flight Catering constantly invests in the latest technologies to delight customers, optimise operations, and minimise our environmental footprint. Bustanica helps secure our supply chain, and ensures our customers can enjoy locally sourced, nutritious produce. By bringing production closer to consumption, we’re reducing the food journey from farm to fork. Congratulations to the Bustanica team for their remarkable achievements so far and for setting global standards and benchmarks in agronomy,” said HH Sheikh Ahmed bin Saeed Al Maktoum, Chairman and Chief Executive of Emirates Airline and Group.

Bustanica uses hydroponic cultivation, which “uses up to 95% less water (15 litres for 1kg) than traditional outdoor farming (317 litres for 1kg)” according to their fact sheet. Its vertical farming method also means that the greens are grown indoors in a controlled environment, “leading to zero soil degradation”.

“Food is grown hydroponically with unique formulas for each cultivar. It leverages machine learning, artificial intelligence, and advanced methods to grow and sustain plants. This means the plants are supported by millions of data points collected each day for maximum growth and supplied with the exact amount of light, water, and plant nutrients, sans soil,” wrote Emirates.

Having this farm in Dubai could help provide fresh produce for the UAE. In 2021, Dubai imports eight million tonnes of food—and its been trying to develop sustainable and effective ways to grow its own food without relying on imports.

With the farm, consumers in the UAE will soon be able to purchase the greens at supermarkets. Bustanica says they plan to expand into the production and sale of fruits and vegetables.

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