New AG International NOV/DEC 2020
The world is running out of arable land and freshwater, and bulldozing forests for large-scale mono-cropping isn't a sustainable solution. How then, will we feed the billions who will join humanity over the next 50 years?
Saudi Arabian agritech startup Red Sea Farms thinks it has a sustainable, organic, and pesticide-free solution. Co-founders, Mark Tester and Ryan Lefers, have developed greenhouse technology that allows for the growing of crops on marginal land, using a fraction of the freshwater normally required.
"Water is so precious," Tester said. "The ability to use saltwater in new ways is essential for sustainability. We use 90 percent less freshwater. We substitute saltwater in greenhouse-cooling technology developed by my co-founder, Ryan Lefers. The result is that the environmental footprint of our tomatoes might just be the lowest in the world – and they taste better too."
Red Sea Farms has found a new home at King Abdullah University of Science and Technology (KAUST) to advance their saltwater greenhouse technology. The team is building a new state-of-the-art, 21,000 square foot, saltwater greenhouse pilot facility, based at the KAUST Research and Technology Park (KRTP). It's the product of a collaboration between KAUST, the Research Products Development Company (RPDC) and the KACST Innovation Research Program.
"Red Sea Farms is one of the startups we're most proud of," said Tony Chan, President of KAUST. "What started as research in the lab is now a product you can buy in the supermarket. It enables us to improve the use of our resources and reduce the stress on our limited water supplies."
Red Sea Farms has developed salt-tolerant, non-GMO cherry tomatoes through hybridization and grafting techniques. The tomatoes taste sweeter, have a higher concentration of Vitamin C, and a longer shelf life. They are grown and developed in an engineered saltwater greenhouse which utilizes unique climate control and cooling techniques powered by saltwater and smart control systems.
Apart from the water savings, the Red Sea Farms saltwater greenhouse system uses two to six times less energy than a conventional, mechanically cooled greenhouse. It's designed to operate in harsh conditions with limited freshwater resources, which will empower communities to grow healthy food locally in places where it may not have been possible to do so before.
"We have a lot more to do and we're planning to adapt and use other technologies," said Tester, "But we can only achieve this by working in partnership with KAUST and RPDC to help us develop and design these future technologies."
In 2019, Red Sea Farms raised $1.9M in seed funding from the KAUST Innovation Fund and RPDC to scale from the lab to deliver a commercially viable product.