Armela Farms has been operating in the field of horticulture in the United Arab Emirates for more than 5 years now. Their farm in Dubai serves a huge percentage of the local market and they are also expanding by building their Hi-tech farm, six times bigger, in Abu Dhabi. We are proud that they decided to add Dutch technology to their expansion and chose the new IIVO from Hoogendoorn Growth Management as their process computer.
After two years of research and development, testing several crops like tomatoes, herbs, kale and lettuces, Armela Farms decided to focus on growing only several lettuces varieties and kale. By the beginning of 2019 they reached the maximum production capacity of 1 ton lettuce and 1,5 tons of kale daily. For 2021 their production will be increased to six tons of lettuce per day.
The clear vision of Armela Farms
This new project, will be finished by October of this year and it comes all hand in hand with their vision for the future. Armela Farms wants to promote food security in the UAE. By bridging the gap between supply and demand they make it possible to deliver their produce immediately upon harvesting, with limited storage time. This way they can ensure costumers pesticide free and fresh produce all year round. Their goal is to utilize unused desert ground and transform this into a sustainable food production facility, whilst taking into consideration reducing their carbon footprint and water conservation. Growing local for local to increase customer satisfaction, but also growing in a sustainable way. That is a clear vision they have and at Hoogendoorn we fully support this vision.
Their plans and vision is one of the reasons that we are proud that Armela Farms chose Hoogendoorn to continue their expansion with. Our Area Sales Manager Fouad Ababou explains: “Armela Farms was ready for a next step in growing. I visited them and immediately felt welcome. Also the possibility to communicate in Arabic together made the contact very easy. During my visit, we walked around their greenhouse and discussed their wishes for the future. Besides our partner Van Der Hoeven, which collaborated with Patron Agri Systems for the construction of their new greenhouse, we also collaborated with specialists from RijkZwaan and Koppert Biological Systems for this wonderful project. For us an ideal cooperation with the IIVO system of Hoogendoorn. From both sides there was a conviction that together we could take their production to the next level.” After all, the plants will be the most happy when everything is in balance.
Taking big steps with IIVO
Yazan Abu Jaish confirms: “We believe that Hoogendoorn is a pioneer company and their technology is advanced. We trusted Fouad and dared to start a data driven way of growing. We believed IIVO was able to help us with that. Also because of the principles of Plant Empowerment which have been incorporated into this new system. Monitoring, controlling and maintaining our greenhouse with IIVO allows us to grow more, at higher quality and move toward an automated way of growing. I actually couldn’t imagine that someday I will have a next level climate computer and smart technology for greenhouse growers in hand.”
Armela Farms is taking a great step to make their smart greenhouse more intelligent. In the near future they also have plans to add robots to their greenhouse and connect their data to the platform of LetsGrow.com. Together with the IIVO their greenhouse is slowly starting to look a lot like an autonomous one.
Yazan Abu Jaish believes that any grower should have a proper climate computer to help him to manage his crops. Yazan Abu Jaish confirms: “I appreciate the fully technical support that was provided to us by the Hoogendoorn team. They keep us posted of their new innovations, provide trainings and webinars. Choosing for the IIVO was the right choice for us.”