A Dubai hotel has taken a big step when it comes to sustainably sourcing ingredients at its in-house restaurants – by setting up a vertical hydroponic farm on-site.
Having produce grown on the premises reduces its carbon footprint and transport costs for the buyer.
“We are doing it for two reasons. A chef will always want the freshest and best possible ingredients, and the need to think of sustainability is immense,” said the property’s executive chef, Tobias Pfister.
“We all need to reduce our carbon footprints. The food is literally grown here and then served on the tables.
“There’s no transportation or logistics involved. I can actually go in the morning to the farm and cut the lettuce and have it in a salad bowl that lunchtime.”
In vertical farming, crops are grown in layers on top of one another, while hydroponics is the process of growing plants in nutrient-rich liquid instead of soil.
A sustainable strategy
The farm, which is about 40 square metres, is inside a sealed container on the property’s grounds in Dubai Marina.
Plants, including lettuce, kale, basil, rosemary and thyme will be grown year-round.
“Sustainability is becoming something that’s an important part of the conversation for every hospitality company,” said Mr Pfister.
“It’s becoming an important trend for every chef.”
He also said food security was thrown under the spotlight by the Covid-19 pandemic.
“We all saw how supply chains were interrupted. All industries were impacted, not just hospitality, and it was important to learn lessons from that,” he said.
“Companies in this region import a lot of their products, so we saw the importance of coming up with alternatives to help localise these markets.”
The Ritz-Carlton’s vertical farm was created in collaboration with Green Container Advanced Farming, a hydroponics specialist.
The method is often said to be a solution to the long-standing problem of finding areas to farm in rapidly urbanising areas.
“It has been established in many cities across the world already; it’s nothing new,” said Mr Pfister.
“When cities keep growing it means space becomes limited and conventional farming methods become unrealistic. This is clearly a way forward.”
Vertical farming on the up
US vertical farm company AeroFarms broke ground on a research and development centre in the capital last summer.
The 8,200-square-metre facility is part of a $150 million plan by Abu Dhabi Investment Office to bring cutting-edge technology to the forefront of efforts to improve food security.
At about that time, Sokovo, an agricultural technology company, announced it was building a 92,000-square-metre vertical farm at Dubai Industrial City.
“The significance of this launch is twofold; we are firstly supporting the UAE on its journey to increasing sustainability, while also enabling our guests to eat locally grown produce, which of course, is more environmentally friendly, but also superior in quality, taste and freshness,” said Jeroen Elmendorp, general manager of The Ritz-Carlton, Dubai.
“Looking forward, we aim to boost responsible operations, which involves placing sustainability at the heart of all that we do.
“I am confident the launch of our very own hydroponic facility will provide our guests with an incredible culinary experience.”
UK’s AI plan
- AI ambassadors such as MIT economist Simon Johnson, Monzo cofounder Tom Blomfield and Google DeepMind’s Raia Hadsell
- £10bn AI growth zone in South Wales to create 5,000 jobs
- £100m of government support for startups building AI hardware products
- £250m to train new AI models
Countries recognising Palestine
France, UK, Canada, Australia, Portugal, Belgium, Malta, Luxembourg, San Marino and Andorra
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Ferrari 12Cilindri specs
Engine: naturally aspirated 6.5-liter V12
Power: 819hp
Torque: 678Nm at 7,250rpm
Price: From Dh1,700,000
Available: Now
Where to donate in the UAE
The Emirates Charity Portal
You can donate to several registered charities through a “donation catalogue”. The use of the donation is quite specific, such as buying a fan for a poor family in Niger for Dh130.
The General Authority of Islamic Affairs & Endowments
The site has an e-donation service accepting debit card, credit card or e-Dirham, an electronic payment tool developed by the Ministry of Finance and First Abu Dhabi Bank.
Al Noor Special Needs Centre
You can donate online or order Smiles n’ Stuff products handcrafted by Al Noor students. The centre publishes a wish list of extras needed, starting at Dh500.
Beit Al Khair Society
Beit Al Khair Society has the motto “From – and to – the UAE,” with donations going towards the neediest in the country. Its website has a list of physical donation sites, but people can also contribute money by SMS, bank transfer and through the hotline 800-22554.
Dar Al Ber Society
Dar Al Ber Society, which has charity projects in 39 countries, accept cash payments, money transfers or SMS donations. Its donation hotline is 800-79.
Dubai Cares
Dubai Cares provides several options for individuals and companies to donate, including online, through banks, at retail outlets, via phone and by purchasing Dubai Cares branded merchandise. It is currently running a campaign called Bookings 2030, which allows people to help change the future of six underprivileged children and young people.
Emirates Airline Foundation
Those who travel on Emirates have undoubtedly seen the little donation envelopes in the seat pockets. But the foundation also accepts donations online and in the form of Skywards Miles. Donated miles are used to sponsor travel for doctors, surgeons, engineers and other professionals volunteering on humanitarian missions around the world.
Emirates Red Crescent
On the Emirates Red Crescent website you can choose between 35 different purposes for your donation, such as providing food for fasters, supporting debtors and contributing to a refugee women fund. It also has a list of bank accounts for each donation type.
Gulf for Good
Gulf for Good raises funds for partner charity projects through challenges, like climbing Kilimanjaro and cycling through Thailand. This year’s projects are in partnership with Street Child Nepal, Larchfield Kids, the Foundation for African Empowerment and SOS Children's Villages. Since 2001, the organisation has raised more than $3.5 million (Dh12.8m) in support of over 50 children’s charities.
Noor Dubai Foundation
Sheikh Mohammed bin Rashid Al Maktoum launched the Noor Dubai Foundation a decade ago with the aim of eliminating all forms of preventable blindness globally. You can donate Dh50 to support mobile eye camps by texting the word “Noor” to 4565 (Etisalat) or 4849 (du).
Tamkeen's offering
- Option 1: 70% in year 1, 50% in year 2, 30% in year 3
- Option 2: 50% across three years
- Option 3: 30% across five years
From Zero
Artist: Linkin Park
Label: Warner Records
Number of tracks: 11
Rating: 4/5
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Groom and Two Brides
Director: Elie Semaan
Starring: Abdullah Boushehri, Laila Abdallah, Lulwa Almulla
Rating: 3/5
Dolittle
Director: Stephen Gaghan
Stars: Robert Downey Jr, Michael Sheen
One-and-a-half out of five stars
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The language of diplomacy in 1853
Treaty of Peace in Perpetuity Agreed Upon by the Chiefs of the Arabian Coast on Behalf of Themselves, Their Heirs and Successors Under the Mediation of the Resident of the Persian Gulf, 1853
(This treaty gave the region the name “Trucial States”.)
We, whose seals are hereunto affixed, Sheikh Sultan bin Suggar, Chief of Rassool-Kheimah, Sheikh Saeed bin Tahnoon, Chief of Aboo Dhebbee, Sheikh Saeed bin Buyte, Chief of Debay, Sheikh Hamid bin Rashed, Chief of Ejman, Sheikh Abdoola bin Rashed, Chief of Umm-ool-Keiweyn, having experienced for a series of years the benefits and advantages resulting from a maritime truce contracted amongst ourselves under the mediation of the Resident in the Persian Gulf and renewed from time to time up to the present period, and being fully impressed, therefore, with a sense of evil consequence formerly arising, from the prosecution of our feuds at sea, whereby our subjects and dependants were prevented from carrying on the pearl fishery in security, and were exposed to interruption and molestation when passing on their lawful occasions, accordingly, we, as aforesaid have determined, for ourselves, our heirs and successors, to conclude together a lasting and inviolable peace from this time forth in perpetuity.
Taken from Britain and Saudi Arabia, 1925-1939: the Imperial Oasis, by Clive Leatherdale
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Dr Graham's three goals
Short term
Establish logistics and systems needed to globally deploy vaccines
Intermediate term
Build biomedical workforces in low- and middle-income nations
Long term
A prototype pathogen approach for pandemic preparedness
