Using Saltwater to Irrigate Agriculture
Meet Ryan Lefers and Mark Tester
Ryan Lefers and Mark Tester founded Red Sea Farms in 2018. The purpose was to offer the most affected agricultural zones with new technology that enables commercial farming to use the abundant saltwater and sunlight available on the planet. The idea was to reduce the dependency on freshwater for agriculture and divert it instead to human and animal consumption. This would mitigate food shortages while decreasing the carbon footprint on the planet.
The Saudi Arabian’s startup aggrotech firm Red Sea Farms has so far raised over $16 million in their funding round just at pre-series. This initiative was led by ARAMCO’s venture capitalist wing Wa’ed, Saudi’s very own state-owned FII (Future Investment Initiative), US-based VCs AppHarvest and Bonaventure, Institute the King Abdullah University of Science and Technology (KAUST), and Dubai-based Global Ventures. Investors’ interest for the next round of funding for Red Sea Farms is planned for 2022 as the company drives towards greater environmental sustainability.
Red Farms’ CEO Ryan Lefers heralds the target funding saying, “It will accelerate our plans to roll out our technology in Saudi, the Middle East, and North America.”
Red Sea Farms aims to collaborate with investors such as APPHarvest, iIndoor farm builders who are responsible for the world’s largest farm in Appalachian in the US, and to expand even further in the Middle East, and Saudi.
Another invester in Red Farms is Wa’ed, whose Managing Director, Fahad Alidi adds, “Red Sea Farms has developed a truly innovative and sustainable business model that not only addresses a global issue around food security and limited agricultural resources but one that is also regionally relevant. Wa’ed is proud to be one of the early supporters to back the pioneering team at Red Sea Farms as they tackle an emerging aggrotech industry with decades-long interdisciplinary research.”
Enhanced growing climate
Utilizing saltwater and sunlight as the base element is a procedure that is set to save 300 liters of freshwater per kilogram of yield produced. Saltwater is utilized for liquid desiccants used in night chilling, evaporation cooling, and solar-operated fan systems to save energy by using power-generated films.
Power efficiency
Red Sea Farms CEA’s innovative technology can be installed at any existing or a new controlled agricultural facility. This same facility can also house domestic animal farming. The company has offered energy sustainability by leveraging solar and water inputs to create smart farming at its best.
Tolerant Plant Aggrotech
The crops produced by Red Sea is overseen experienced scientists who make sure that the crops are more tolerant to salt, drought, and heat, making saltwater ideal for their application. The crops grow even if irrigated with even brackish water. They also follow a non-GMO policy using biotechnology where they offer seedings to agricultural regions with harsh temperatures and terrains.
The Saudi start-up has proven its value in Q1 2022 with a 62% dealership for large staging investments. This includes a $50 million raised by Q-commerce initiatives.
Reference: https://redseafarms.com/
