Dubai Will Soon Be Home To The World’s Largest Hydroponic Farm

The new indoor vertical farm is a collaboration between Emirates Flight Catering and U.S.-based vertical farming and sustainable technology platform Crop One Holdings.

Each company has invested $40 million to create the world’s largest hydroponic farm.

The farm, a 130,000-square foot facility, is the equivalent of 900 acres of farmland. According to Crop One, the world’s largest vertical farm should be capable of producing a total of 5.3 tons of leafy greens every day that will be served on 105 airlines and in 25 airport lounges at Dubai airport. 

Crop One claims in a press release that the sustainable technology will use just 320 gallons of water and 100 square feet of land to produce the same amount of leafy greens that 827,640 square feet of land and 250,000 gallons of water would produce using traditional farming methods.

Hydroponic farms work without the need for large quantities of soil, chemicals, and sunlight. This project could pave the way for rapid growth in indoor farming as climate change is making it harder than ever to grow our crops outdoors. It also could be an efficient way of helping regions with little arable land, like the United Arab Emirates become less reliant on imported produce, which currently imports 80 percent of its produce. 

Construction starts next month and is expected to start by the end of 2019.