Salt Water Agriculture
A prevalent local concern in Saudi Arabia is the lack of access to fresh water and a heavy reliance on imported items. A start-up company, Red Sea Farms, attempts to tackle this and develop local agriculture with new technology.
“By using greenhouses for hot and dry climates, plants are maintained using 95% saltwater cooling systems rather than irrigation. Aiming to be global leaders of saltwater agriculture, their greenhouses save 80-90% of freshwater compared to conventional evaporative cooled greenhouses. ”
The farm is able to grow 15 types of organic and non-GMO produce including snap tomatoes and cucumbers. Securing a $10 million investment from UAE and Saudi investors, it shows the growing interests of investors in sustainable farming solutions that combat global supply chain disruption as a result of Covid. With the contribution of these investments and a scalable agriculture system, global food security can be improved without increasing the carbon and freshwater footprint. Red Sea Farms is also developing technology to prevent heating by blocking infrared light.
Read more about their cause here.
In Egypt, there is an increasing challenge to water access due to the impacts of the GERD. Researcher and assistant professor Reda Mohammad Ali developed a non-conventional device that evaporates stagnant salt lake water and rainwater for water vapour collection. The device is suited for floating agriculture, made from simple parts that potential users will understand easily. The saltwater processed in the device has been shown to contain only 5% salt content. It is currently used for medicinal plant growth, and future plans include rice and wheat production.
Read more about it here.
Why this matters
These new farming models pave the way for a sustainable future that is less reliant on the 70% of freshwater being used for agriculture. These methods can be applied in other Middle Eastern climates, scalable where conventional farming methods are not economically or physically feasible. Meeting the needs of the present, it revolutionises modern agriculture in an environmentally friendly way and a compromise to future generations.