World’s largest vertical farm

2022-07-18

Because of limited arable land and water, the United Arab Emirates imports about 90% of its food. But inside a warehouse-like building near the Dubai airport, a new vertical farm is now beginning to grow more than 2 million pounds of local leafy greens per year.

 

The main advantage of utilizing vertical farming technologies is the increased crop yield that comes with a smaller unit area of land requirement. The increased ability to cultivate a larger variety of crops at once because crops do not share the same plots of land while growing is another sought-after advantage. Additionally, crops are resistant to weather disruptions because of their placement indoors, meaning fewer crops are lost to extreme or unexpected weather occurrences. Because of its limited land usage, vertical farming is less disruptive to the native plants and animals, leading to further conservation of the local flora and fauna.

 

The farm, called ECO 1, is now the largest vertical farm in the world, with the more than 330,000-square-foot facility stacked with shelves growing lettuce, spinach, arugula, and mixed greens. It  will produce 2 million pounds of greens per year, in a country that currently imports nearly all of its food.