A huge indoor farm, the fruit of Quebec genius

Investors from Repentigny have convinced one of the richest families in the United Arab Emirates (UAE) to build the world’s largest $ 235 million indoor farm in the heart of the Abu Dhabi desert.

“We’re leaving a meeting. We have just learned that it is not only the largest indoor farm in the world, but it is also the second or third largest building on the planet ”, launches with pride at the end of the line Jonathan Mérineau-Gosselin, from Real Estate, Co-Founder and Executive Vice President of Middle East Operations of RainMKRS Capital Investments.

In mid-September, his company GrowGroup IFS of Barendrecht (Netherlands) and Abu Dhabi (UAE) announced that they would build the world’s largest indoor farm in the Abu Dhabi desert.

It will produce no less than 10,000 tonnes of fresh food per year on 17.5 hectares, or the equivalent of 25 football fields. It will have a cultivation area of ​​160,000 square meters of fruit and vegetables of around fifty varieties.

Powered by electricity, it is expected to use 95% less water than similar facilities and hopes to reduce its ecological footprint by 40%.

$ 235 million project

Supported by UAE Minister for Food and Water Security Mariam Almheiri, the $ 235 million project also has the backing of the Netherlands Ambassador to the country, Lody Embrechts.

“I injected the equivalent of two million dollars of my own money into the project. We secured nearly $ 40 million from Mohamed Jouan Al Dhaheri (see other text below), nine million of which will go to the farm, ”explains Sébastien Leblond, lawyer, co-founder and global head of operations at RainMKRS Capital Investissements.

Each year, the United Arab Emirates imports 750,000 tonnes of fruits and vegetables. In this desert country, the 10,000 tonnes per year that the new farm will produce are more than welcome.

“Our production is sold for the next three years to the largest food distributor in the region, Levarht,” adds Sébastien Leblond, whose company RainMKRS owns 40% of the farm.

Food Safety

“The country is extremely dependent on imports of food of all forms, because it’s the desert and it’s too hot to grow anything other than dates,” adds Jonathan Mérineau-Gosselin of RainMKRS Capital Investissements to the joke. .

For the United Arab Emirates, the construction of the new farm in the middle of the desert is strategic.

“For them, food security is important. They know it’s not just about stretching the money to pay for the best candidates in the world to make their fruits and vegetables. They want to build an industry, to transfer knowledge, ”continues Jonathan Mérineau-Gosselin.

Already, his joint venture plans to build more similar indoor farms in parts of the world where extreme climates make it more difficult to produce fruits and vegetables.

“After Abu Dhabi, we already have a dozen expressions of interest from countries that want the same farm to manage projects to produce locally,” continues Sébastien Leblond.

In the coming months, the first phase of the project will see the light of day, a full-size gold laboratory for investors in Repentigny.

“We quickly understood that to succeed here, you align yourself with government initiatives, it’s an obvious way to succeed,” concludes Jonathan Mérineau-Gosselin, who has lived in the country since 2013 with his Emirati wife.

– With the collaboration of Andrea Valeria

GREENFACTORY EMIRATES FARM

• Construction : $ 235 million
• Area: 17.5 hectares
• Production: 10,000 tons
• Varieties of fruits and vegetables: 56

RAINMKRS

Shareholders / co-founders:

• Mohamed Jouan Salem Al Dhaheri (Chairman of the Board and CEO)
• Sébastien Leblond (Global Head of Operations)
• Jonathan Mérineau-Gosselin (executive vice-president)
• Sultan Al-Nassour
• Mario leblond

INTERESTED INSTITUTIONS

• Wageningen University
• Aeres University
• Delphy
• Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT)
• University of Saskatchewan
• University of Toronto
• Genome Canada

Source: RainMKRS

“It’s basically a story of friendship and a family story”

Quebecers who plan to build the largest indoor farm in the world in the United Arab Emirates (UAE) grew up in the same district of Repentigny before rubbing shoulders with the upper echelons of Emirati power.

“My brother Mario quit his job at Bombardier two years ago to go around the world. He has visited more than 70 countries. He has witnessed famine and food needs on the planet. He wanted to do a grassroots humanitarian project and change the world, ”says Sébastien Leblond, lawyer, formerly at Anderson Sinclair PC, co-founder and global head of operations of RainMKRS Capital Investissements.

One afternoon, his brother Mario tells him about his friend Jonathan Mérineau-Gosselin, who made a career in real estate in Quebec before moving to the United Arab Emirates in 2013. Sébastien then decides to go there to do his knowledge.

“When I met Jonathan, it clicked. We had a lot of affinities. Jonathan was married to a woman from the United Arab Emirates, whose brother was very involved in critical infrastructure and high-level food security, ”recalls Sébastien Leblond.

Crucial issue

Over the course of the discussions, Quebeckers decided to propose an interior farm project to the country’s leaders to help them move closer to food independence, a crucial issue in the region.

Netherlands, England, France, United States … Sébastien and his partners travel the world to draft their farm project, which they put down on paper two years later in a 300-page brick.

“Jonathan’s brother-in-law brought us to meet Mohamed Jouan Al Dhaheri, a young Emirati from a very large and fairly powerful family, and in particular very rich, who became our chairman of the board, who took a little under his wing the strategic development of relationships with families there, ”explains Sébastien Leblond.

Today, another prominent figure, Sultan Al-Nassour, who heads critical infrastructure within the Emirate of Abu Dhabi (UAE), is working with them to bring the project to life.

“It’s basically a story of friendship and a family story,” says Jonathan Mérineau-Gosselin of RainMKRS Capital.

More open than you think

When asked if life is different in the United Arab Emirates, he replies that today’s society is more open than many people imagine.

“When my parents came to visit me, they were pleasantly surprised to see how liberal it was,” he concludes.