Crop One and Emirates open the world’s largest vertical farm in Dubai

When it comes to vertical farms, a new facility may be the cream of the crop.

This week, indoor vertical-farming company Crop One Holdings and Emirates Flight Catering opened Emirates Crop One (ECO 1), which it says is the world’s largest vertical farm, in Dubai.

The 330,000-square-foot facility is hydroponic, meaning it grows plants sans soil using nutrient-enriched water, and is set to grow 2 million pounds of greens annually.

• Crop One opened its first vertical farm at its headquarters in Millis, Massachusetts, in 2015; it signed a $40 million joint venture with Emirates in 2018 to build this new farm.

The facility monitors and adjusts levels of lighting, nutrients, and humidity, and while the tech for this can be pricey, Crop One CEO Craig Ratajczyk told Fast Company that “size does matter in the food production space.”

“When you’re talking about something this large, the economics work out well,” Ratajczyk said. “So it turns out to be a very profitable farm.”

Leaf no trace: Beginning this month, travelers aboard Emirates and other airlines will be served the farm’s lettuce, arugula, spinach, and mixed salad greens on their flights, while shoppers in the UAE can buy the products in stores sold under the brand name Bustanica.

• Since no pesticides or herbicides are used, consumers can skip washing them, per Ratajczyk.

Zoom out: Vertical-farming startups, which scored $1.6 billion in funding last year per Pitchbook, could help cut water use and emissions within farming—but they still take a lot of energy to run, Emerging Tech Brew noted. While ECO 1 claims it uses 95% less water than traditionally grown produce, it does still run on conventional energy, though Ratajczyk said it has plans to utilize solar panels.—EC