UNS FARMS GOES VERTICAL
UNS FARMS IS PIONEERING A SUSTAINABLE WAY TO PROVIDE THE UAE WITH FRESH, LOCALLY-PRODUCED FRUITS AND VEGETABLES USING NO CHEMICALS OR PRESERVATIVES IN ITS SUPPLY CHAIN AT A FRACTION OF THE COST OF COMPARATIVE IMPORTS.
Uns Farms is pioneering a sustainable way to provide the UAE with fresh, locally-produced fruits and vegetables at a fraction of the cost of comparative imports.
The UAE imports 80% of its food, according to Minister of Economy, Sultan bin Saeed Al Mansouri. This is a major challenge to the country’s food security, which it is seeking to change through redevelopment of the food supply chain. But, local businessman Mustafa Moiz, manging director of Uns Farms, believes he has the solution.
Moiz has established the first vertical farms in the region, and for the last 6 months has been testing and fine-turning his hydroponic farming techniques ahead of a massive expansion planned for completion within the second quarter of 2019.
“There is a huge gap in the F&B sector, especially when it comes to fresh leafy greens. The vast majority of this produce is imported, and the prices are expensive because of the cost of air freighting it in,” he tells Logistics Middle East. “These extra costs are pushed on to the consumer. We decided that it was worth trying to bridge this gap and produce fresh leafy greens locally at a much lower cost.”
With the financial backing of parent company Speedex, Uns Farms established a vertical farming facility in Al Qouz, in a 7,000sqft warehouse. “We’ve set up the vertical farm here in Al Qouz, which is centrally located for delivery throughout Dubai and even the Northern Emirates,” explains Moiz. “We’re able to supply to any supermarket, hotel etc in less than 24 hours from the date of harvest. This in turn gives the retailer a longer shelf-life of ten
to 15 days, whereas for imports, at least half the shelf-life is consumed by storage, transport and delivery. So they can keep it on the shelf for longer, maximising their revenue, and customers get a much fresher product.”
Uns Farms is currently working with select retailers and hotels, producing leaf greens of all kinds, from baby spinach and kale, to basil, lettuce and salad leaves. As Logistics Middle East was going to print though, it was finalising the details of a huge expansion into a 30,000sqft facility that will give it the ability to increase production to 1.5-tons per day.
“We’ll therefore be expanding our retailer portfolio considerably in a few weeks. The UNS Farms brand will then be available on supermarket shelves throughout Dubai and eventually, Abu Dhabi,” says Moiz. “Good quality shouldn’t just be for the rich, or the upper middle income families. Everyone should be able to enjoy fresh produce at an affordable price.”
And Uns Farms, despite the climatic conditions in the UAE, is able to offer its product at 30% to
VERTICAL FARMING IS THE FUTURE OF SUSTAINABLE AGRICULTURE IN THE UAE. WE IMPORT A HUGE AMOUNT OF GOODS, AND WE NEED TO FIND WAYS OF BEING NOT ONLY MORE SUSTAINABLE, BUT MORE SELF-SUSTAINING AS WELL, MEETING LOCAL DEMAND THROUGH LOCAL PRODUCTION”
40% less than what comparative imported goods would cost. “And when you compare the quality, or produce is also extremely fresh, less than a day old, and contains no pesticides, no chemicals,” he adds.
According to Moiz, it is as close as retailers can get to organic in locally produced leafy greens. “We don’t call it fully organic because in the UAE we don’t yet have the approvals from the organic farming committees to be certified as organic, but the way in which we grow and harvest our produce is completely organic, it just isn’t certified as such yet,” he says.
The farm works on principles of hydroponics which rests on growing plants & vegetables soil free in a media called Rockwool. Nutrition is supplied to plants through macro and micronutrients dissolved in water, through drip farming optimising the use of water. “We use 90% less water than a conventional farm in this region would if it were producing the same amount as us,” says Moiz.
The indoor farm is temperature controlled so has the same yield throughout the year, even during the peak of summer. It is sustainable because it uses the minimum amount of water and the green, red and yellow ultraviolet solar colours that are used in the eight levels of growing trays come from energy-saving LED lights.
“A key challenge for operating a vertical farm in the UAE is the high cost of real estate in prime locations for quick delivery, and the high operating cost because of the climate,” says Moiz. “We are looking at sustainability, but it isn’t something that is widely understood or supported by the agriculture supply chain eco-system. The cost of water, electricity, cooling etc are all very high.”
This will change in the coming years, though, Moiz says. “Vertical farming is the future of sustainable agriculture in the UAE. We import a huge amount of food, and we need to find ways of being not only more sustainable, but more self-sustaining as well, meeting local demand through local production.”
This is even more important when one considers that the UAE currently spends more than US $8-billion on its food imports, and that cost is expected to double in the next ten years, which means a corresponding doubling of the country’s carbon footprint in the packaging, transport and storage of the food it’s importing. “We’re in an arid region though, the climate conditions are very challenging for conventional farming, but through technologies like LED lights, drip farming and so on, we’re able to achieve a steady yield year-round, at a lower cost than imported goods, while at the same time being free of any harmful pesticides or chemical,” says Moiz.
And when it comes to the actual storage of the produce, Moiz eschews that completely – something else that makes Uns Farms product different to others on the market. “We don’t want to store the produce at all, because once you store harvested produce, the USP of selling the freshest product immediately is lost,” he says.
So in order to support the logistics of delivery of 1.5 tons of freshly harvested produce once the new facility is operational, Uns Farms has procured its own delivery fleet.
“We’ve invested in our own delivery fleet, because we’ve been focusing on B2B and also the Horeca Market. But, once the expansion is complete we’ll be looking to work with a 3PL that can provide us with the fleet operation required to deliver online and to our retailers,” he adds.
“We want to harvest and get it on the plate or on the shelf within a day. We plan our growing and harvesting in such a way that it is as per market demand & reducing food wastage.”
GOOD QUALITY SHOULDN’T JUST BE FOR THE RICH, OR THE UPPER MIDDLE INCOME FAMILIES. EVERYONE SHOULD BE ABLE TO ENJOY FRESH PRODUCE AT AN AFFORDABLE PRICE”