Abu Dhabi: AeroFarms, a Certified B Corporation and the world’s leading indoor vertical farming company, formally has launched AeroFarms AgX in order to bring cutting-edge Research and Development (R&D) to the UAE and the Middle East.
AeroFarms AgX is pioneering sustainable controlled environment agriculture (CEA) and indoor vertical farming to help with the larger problem of the global agriculture supply chain. The most advanced indoor vertical farm for research and development in the world focuses on the most recent advancements in AgTech, innovation, and indoor vertical farming.
The Abu Dhabi Investment Office (ADIO) is supporting the facility as part of its mission to develop sustainable investment possibilities for advancing next-generation agriculture in arid and desert regions. AeroFarms AgX is the world’s largest indoor vertical farm of its kind for research and development, measuring 65,000 square feet. It pioneers ground-breaking ideas to address some of the most urgent agricultural concerns facing the planet.
Mr. Mariam bint Mohammed Almheiri, Minister of Climate Change and the Environment, delivered the keynote address at the Grand Opening. A Collaboration Agreement with Silal was also signed. Mr .David Rosenberg, Co-Founder and CEO of AeroFarms, led the inaugural First Bite of Greens and gave attendees a tour of the top R&D projects being conducted at AeroFarms AgX.
Mr. David Rosenberg, Co-Founder and CEO of AeroFarms, remarked that, “AeroFarms has been expanding globally for both our commercial and R&D indoor vertical farms, leveraging our growing expertise and proprietary technology platform that can help solve a broader array of agricultural challenges. We are incredibly proud of the amazing international turnout and support at the highest levels for our Grand Opening of AeroFarms AgX, and our ongoing partnership with ADIO reflects our bigger commitment to help transform agriculture, accelerate innovating cycles, and commercialise new products for the region and the world.”
One of AeroFarms AgX’s objectives is to serve as a centre of innovation, bringing together important strategic partners like Cargill and the Precision Indoor Plants (PIP) Consortium of the Foundation for Food & Agriculture (FFAR) for joint R&D projects. In order to move forward with this, AeroFarms and Silal officially inked a Collaboration Agreement, building on prior exploratory work done under a Memorandum of Understanding.
The collaboration is anticipated to concentrate on enhancing the genetics and seedling quality of fruit and vegetable varieties to make them more robust and tolerant of harsh growing environments. A seedling’s quality is a crucial component of crop establishment, growth, and yield. Additionally, the cooperation will concentrate on analysing and testing crops with high market demand, such as tomatoes and peppers. At AeroFarms AgX, crop trials and experiments will be carried out.