Kuwait’s NOX Management launches region’s first large-scale indoor vertical farm

&Ever Middle East, a joint venture between Kuwait’s NOX Management and German company &ever, in partnership with German engineering companies SAP and Viessmann, has opened the first commercial indoor vertical farm in the Middle East.

Kuwait will now locally grow up to 250 varieties of greens and herbs using Dryponics technology. The Gulf nation has historically held dependencies on overseas imports for most of its leafy green varieties.

The facility, with approximately 3,000 sqm of growing space, has a daily output capacity of up to 550 kg of salad, herbs, and cresses.

The farm produces high-quality and sustainable crops indoors, which increase the nutritional quality and decrease environmental impact. The vertical farming method uses 90 per cent less water compared to traditional farming, 60 per cent less fertilizer, and zero pesticides.

Using a sustainable “farm to fork” model, the technology is able to preserve the plants’ nutritional value until the produce reaches the customer.

“Previously, Kuwait’s restaurants imported all of our greens and herbs, mainly from Europe,” said Faisal AlMeshal, director of strategy and business development, NOX Management. “Our JV with &ever and the partnership with SAP and Viessmann on this indoor farm is enabling the local farming supply chain to save on costs and logistics, to minimise waste, and to make a better choice for the planet. Our customers have enhanced experiences with tastier and fresher produce.”

This knowledge exchange complements Germany and Kuwait’s trade ties as bilateral trade is EUR1.3bn, while Germany’s private sector invests EUR14.6bn in Kuwait, according to Germany’s Federal Foreign Office.

“Germany and Kuwait – strong partners in politics but also in business,” said His Excellency Stefan Möbs, Ambassador of the Federal Republic of Germany to Kuwait. “I welcome the innovative business idea of German company &ever specifically here in Kuwait.”

The farm has partnered with Viessmann Refrigeration Solutions to develop highly efficient climatised rooms which are used in its indoor vertical farm. The technology is 40 per cent more energy-efficient than other indoor vertical farming systems when it comes to energy use for climatisation.

&ever built its operating system, &ever Cloud, using the SAP Business Technology Platform — SAP HANA in-memory platform and SAP Cloud Platform.

Farmers can monitor, analyse, and adjust hundreds of data points on plant health, airflow, light, carbon dioxide levels, humidity, and temperature in real-time.

“Technology is the foundation for transforming customer experiences in restaurants and agricultural production in Kuwait, and for fostering diversified economic growth and sustainable agriculture worldwide,” said Andy Froemmel, managing director, SAP Kuwait. “Digitally transforming Kuwait’s agricultural sector supports New Kuwait 2035 goals, and helps to foster the local innovation economy and job creation.”

Building on the global deployment capabilities of its key partners, &ever will scale its operations globally. “Our vision is to bring better tasting greens with high nutritional value to more and more people,” says Mark Korzilius, founder of &ever.

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