Adoption of vertical farming to help deal with farming problems in United Arabs Emirates
Date :
To : Khadim Al Darei, the manager Al Dahra Agricultural Company
From : Leon Deng, primary researcher of the project
Subject : Adoption of vertical farming to help deal with farming problems in
United Arabs Emirates (UAE)
The following is a progress report on a project to determine the effectiveness of vertical farming and how effective it would be for United Arabs Emirates. The report gives an overview of the project, explaining the sections that have been completed, those that have not been completed and giving some recommendation is regard to vertical farming adoption in UAE.
Scope and Purpose
Reducing stock of agricultural land per assets is becoming an emerging global issue as the population continues growing and this is the case in United Arabs Emirates (UAE). The proposed approach to dealing with farming problems in UAE is through the adoption of vertical farming which offers a realistic alternative to conventional production of crops.
I am the main researcher in this project and with the help of two of my colleagues; we hope to answer the following questions;
- What does vertical farming entail?
- What are the forces behind vertical farming?
- What are some of the high-tech vertical farming methods?
- What are the implications of vertical farming for UAE?
The progress
The project has adopted a qualitative informative approach where it examines the wide range of literature that is related to agronomy, vertical farming, rooftop farming and urban agriculture. I began working on this project in mid-October 2018 and I hope to have completed it by mid December 2018 and it is okay to say that I am on the right time track. So far I have acquired the data that I need to complete the project, I have already completed the first section of this project and I have already began working on the second.
To date an examination of both secondary and primary literatures on vertical farming have been acquired through the use of online search engines as well as databases including; proQuest, Google Scholar, Ebsco host among others. Over 100 sources between the years 2010 and 2018 were acquired but after an analysis, we have only decided to use 15 sources for the final project. 42% of these articles are peer reviewed journals, 20% books, 6% theses, 9% conference papers and 15% websites.
I have also completed the introduction part of the project where a critical definition of vertical farming has been completed and an analysis of how it would be beneficial to UAE which is a desert based country has also been clearly defined.
I am currently reviewing the literature that I have acquired so that I can begin working one the literature review section which will analyse and compare all the past studies that have been conducted on vertical farming to understand how effective the method would be for UAE.
Remaining tasks
I still have two important tasks to handle so that I can complete this project and this include the analysis and the recommendation sections that I hope to complete within the next four weeks. The analysis section will give a detailed exploration of vertical given and why UAE would greatly benefit from this method of farming. I will also be explaining the best design to use while making a vertical farm and I will also explain the whole process including the materials required to create a vertical farm on the recommendation section.
Expected results
You had requested to understand whether vertical farming is a technique that can be incorporated in UAE to help improve farming and increase food for the growing population especially at the urban centres. So far the analysis of all the data acquired from the sources I have acquired indicate the effectiveness of vertical farming for UAE because this is a method that is easy to implement and it does not rely on the common elements of farming like soil and climate (The Growth of Robot Farming, 2016). I have so far come up with notion that Vertical farming is much cheaper as compared to conventional farming because of the lowered risks when growing crops especially when it comes to the high temperatures in UAE. The most amazing thing about this method is the fact that crops can be grown all year round which means that you will be able to have more food within a short time which will greatly help deal with the issue of food shortage in UAE.
Figure 1; table showing the advantages of vertical farming over other farming methods
From ‘Urban Crops’ by Tobe (2016), Rising need for nursery, indoor and vertical farming - The Robot Report
This method also encourages sustainability which is a major issue in the globe today; in that the use of fossil fuels is minimized through the use of solar panels, storage batteries and roof top wind turbine and this basically help in reduce ecosystem carbon levels (Kozai, 2015). If you look at vertical farming critically you will see that it provides an economical edge for the country in that there is the combination of widespread research, growth with farming practice and modern expertise which helps improves efficiency. With the fact that I have already completed the first section of this project and already working on the second, I can confidently assure you that the project will be completed by mid-December 2018. Feel free to contact me about any details on this project.
Some of selected sources
Tobe, F. (2016). Rising need for nursery, indoor and vertical farming - The Robot Report.
Retrieved from https://www.therobotreport.com/rising-need-for-nursery-indoor-and-vertical-farming/
Kozai T, Genhua N, and Michiko T. 2015. Plant Factory: An Indoor Vertical Farming
System for Efficient Quality Food Production. ,. Internet resource.
The Growth of Robot Farming. (2016). Trends Magazine, (155), 32–36. Retrieved from
http://search.ebscohost.com/login.aspx?direct=true&db=bth&AN=114558469&site=ehost-live
Yours faithfully,
Leon Deng.
