The whole world is happy with our farming smarts

In the New Scientist, a science magazine, I read a fascinating article about a desert greenhouse in South Australia called Sundrop Farm. This mega-greenhouse produces 17.000 tons of tomatoes every year. Based on sunshine and seawater only. So no soil, pesticides, fossil fuels or groundwater.

Kilometers of pipes carry seawater. An installation, powered by solar energy, removes the salt from the water. Result: enough freshwater for 180.000 tomato plants. The seawater is also used to cool the greenhouse. All in all a completely self-sufficient project. Cost $200 million.

A wonderful project, but you do wonder: why produce vegetables in the desert? There are ideal conditions for tomato production all over the world. Desert greenhouses will only come into the picture if climate change continues dramatically. Would you think.

At the Westland greenhouse builder Kubo (Kuipers Bouw) they have to smile about this. The company specializes in the construction of greenhouses for tomatoes, peppers and flowers, but because the Netherlands invests only a limited amount in new greenhouses, the Westland company started looking for new markets. This is how Kubo eventually ended up with solar greenhouses. One of the largest solar power plants in the world is being built in the vast desert of the Arab country of Oman. These are mega-sized greenhouses containing solar panels. The greenhouses are necessary to prevent damage from dust. 1 gigawatt (or one billion watts) of energy is generated which is then used to make steam. This beautiful green energy is then used in Oman to pump oil(!) more easily. The upside-down world, you would think

The desert offers our agri-sector plenty of opportunities. Farm Frites, for example, has been active there for years. In their search for increasingly better varieties, the Santana desert potato (grown in Egypt) has become an indispensable part of the range. And the desert is nothing new for our dairy farmers either. The Frisian milking machine dealer Farm Service has been supplying milking parlors and machines to the Middle East for years.

And meanwhile, in our small country we are busy with rules and standards due to manure surplus, lack of space and odor nuisance. You would almost forget how great the future possibilities are worldwide thanks to our innovative power. Last year we exported 9 billion euros worth of agricultural materials, knowledge and technology. About 10 percent of our total agricultural and food exports. A new record!  

The desert countries with their oil that are running out are making more and more efforts to boost their agriculture because then they have to import less. And then we are talking about desert stables with roughly 130.000 cows. While in the Netherlands we are discussing farms with 300 cows. If we are faced with a growth limit in our home market, there is no shortage of space in the desert countries. In short, a great growth market is up for grabs for entrepreneurs who dare to think big. We have already won the first battle: Thanks to our technological knowledge, we are already one step ahead of the competition.

Johan Geroms

Johan Geeroms is Risk Director at Euler Hermes, the world market leader in credit insurance and corporate debt collection. In his blogs, Geeroms often focuses on developments in the agricultural sector.

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