“A lot of people thought I had lost my mind,” says Kurtz, CEO of Pure Harvest. “You want to grow tomatoes in the deserts of the Emirates?”

But the United Arab Emirates is proving to be an ideal environment for building visionary companies like his – ventures that could redefine the future of food systems.

“The UAE offered the perfect combination of a challenging climate, a thriving startup environment and a government committed to fostering innovation, making it the ideal location for us,” said Sky Kurtz, CEO of Pure Harvest.

From Dubai’s Foodtech Valley – one of the world’s first dedicated agritech cities – to Abu Dhabi’s Hub71, a government-backed tech ecosystem driving investment in agriculture, food safety, food security and biosecurity, the UAE is creating fertile ground for solving some of the biggest challenges facing our society.

Promoting bold ideas

Lacking rivers, lakes or other stable freshwater resources, the United Arab Emirates is one of the most water-scarce countries in the world. The needs of a growing population have only exacerbated the problem.

Annual per capita water consumption in the Gulf region is more than 550 litres per day, more than double the global average. In countries such as the United Arab Emirates, up to 80 percent of freshwater goes to agriculture, yet this sector only provides about 20 percent of the UAE’s food. The rest is imported.

“To solve the water supply problem, we must address the challenges of food production,” Kurtz explains.