Pure Harvest Smart Farms, a technology-enabled arid climate agribusiness based in Abu Dhabi, announced the first harvest and retail market entry of its premium quality tomatoes from its inaugural high-tech greenhouse in Nahel, United Arab Emirates.

Pure Harvest’s proprietary solution has positioned the company as a pioneer of high-yielding, year-round, local production of fresh fruits and vegetables within the GCC region.  The company’s growing system was specifically designed for addressing the challenging summer-time climates of the Arabian Gulf region.

The inaugural greenhouse was developed in partnership with CerthonTM Greenhouse Solutions, a leading Dutch designer and builder of modern greenhouses.  Indoor temperature, humidity, and carbon dioxide levels are carefully balanced and automated using a climate management computer system developed by PrivaTM, a leader in horticulture and building automation.

The company achieved first harvest of its initial products (candy tomatoes, tomatoes-on-the-vine, and cherry tomatoes-on-the-vine) approximately two months after commissioning its facility in early-August. Early results have been positive, with the greenhouse achieving market-leading produce quality and beating targeted yields by 20 percent for its first season – evidence that the solution can be economic at scale.  The performance of the greenhouse climate control system has enabled the Company to be the first agribusiness company in the UAE to produce commercial quantities of fresh tomatoes during extreme summer climate conditions.

Pure Harvest is currently selling its products to major retail customers across the UAE including Spinney’s, Carrefour, Waitrose, Zoom, and Choithram’s as well as select hotels and restaurants, including the Four Seasons.  

Driven by the early success of its launch, Pure Harvest is now preparing to launch a USD 10 million fundraising for its expansion within the UAE and the KSA in early-2019. In October 2018, Pure Harvest received a disbursement of USD 1.5 million, from the Mohammed Bin Rashid Innovation Fund (MBRIF), a federally-sponsored initiative conceived and sponsored by the Ministry of Finance, and operated by the Emirates Development Bank (EDB).

“Agricultural facilities such as Pure Harvest Smart Farms are instrumental in enabling the UAE to achieve independent food production and food security for its citizens – I am therefore delighted to be able to congratulate the farm’s dedicated management and team members on their first crop and market entry of premium tomatoes. Pure Harvest Smart Farms is the perfect example of a facility that can help the UAE meet its Future Food Security goals.” said H.E. Mariam bint Mohammed Saeed Hareb Al Almheiri, Minister of State for Food Security.

“I am extremely proud of what my team has achieved with this first-of-its-kind growing solution.  We are overwhelmed by the strong feedback from early customers regarding our products. The tomatoes truly ‘taste like they should’!  I’m excited to begin our expansion in early-2019 and to diversify our production, including always-available, sustainably-grown strawberries,” said Pure Harvest Co-Founder and CEO Sky Kurtz.