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Temperatures of 15-24°C, moist, nutrient-rich soils, and dark, cool conditions are not necessarily the words of choice to describe the UAE’s landscape. But did you know that these conditions are absolutely necessary for growing mushrooms? Yet, in a story of achieving the seemingly impossible, Below Farm, an agritech company based in the capital Abu Dhabi, has discovered a way to grow mushrooms year-round in the UAE using local raw materials. did. “Founded in 2021 and with the first mushrooms expected to be harvested from our Abu Dhabi farm in 2022, we have worked hard to localize mushroom cultivation for dry climates,” said Below Farm. said Liliana Slowinska, co-founder and business development director. “This requires a complex controlled environment system that is optimized for hot, dry desert environments. But we took it a step further and used locally available substrate materials (palms from date palm plantations). It was cultivated using leaves etc.
Slowinska conceptualized the idea for Below Farm with her husband Wojciech Slowinski (Below Farm’s technical director) and was soon joined by a third co-founder, Bronte Weir. Slowinska had known her during her corporate career. Fast-moving consumer goods (FMCG) industry. But the dynamic between her three co-founders when it comes to growing mushrooms goes far beyond the business she created together. As you know, as natives of Poland, they are all accustomed to the act of mushroom hunting. This is a tradition that has been followed for centuries in Slavic countries, where knowledge about a particular species is regularly passed down from generation to generation. Combining this experience with their respective expertise, the trio decided to target her niche in the UAE’s agricultural sector.
“The UAE’s focus on food security makes it an ideal environment for startups to enter the industry, but there were no companies operating in the mushroom sector,” said Below Farm Managing Director. One Mr. Weir says. “We saw an opportunity and, inspired by our founder’s native Poland, where mushroom foraging is a core part of its cultural heritage, we set out on a journey to grow mushrooms in the desert.”
From this sentiment, the vision for Below Farm was born. “In its simplest form, Below Farm is a mushroom farm,” explains Slowinski. “We grow and sell fresh edible mushrooms to restaurants and retail stores, as well as directly to consumers through our online website. Our range of mushroom-related products is also expanding. “There are many more products to come, including cultivation kits. It’s about building and owning the category in the Middle East.”
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Produced without the use of pesticides or fertilizers, Below Farm uses a fully automated controlled environment system and uses indoor vertical farming technology that requires minimal space and can be installed anywhere. , virtually eliminating the need for arable land. “Mushrooms are nature’s tools in the circular economy; they break down organic matter that cannot be recycled and put it back into the circle of life,” Sloinska added. “Our substrates are made from date palm leaves, a by-product of the UAE’s hundreds of millions of date palm trees. Date palm cultivation accounts for 35% of the country’s agriculture. Together, we are exploring waste organic matter as a potential material. While growing mushrooms, we reduce our partners’ waste going to landfill.”
Under Farm’s efforts to promote a circular economy have undoubtedly been well-received in the UAE. After all, the country’s government is even developing a circular economy policy that provides a framework to determine the country’s approach to achieving sustainable governance and ideal utilization. of natural resources. “Our efforts were recently recognized in the UAE Circular Economy Outlook Report, published by the UAE Ministry of Climate Change and Environment. It highlights some of the amazing actions we are taking in the Commonwealth of Nations, “the country’s transition to a circular economy,” Slowinski elaborates. “We are also collaborating with Expocity Dubai to collect used coffee grounds from the on-site cafe store and incorporate it into the substrate. We are also upcycling it into nutritious food products. I’m always looking for new materials to do it with.”
In fact, the search for new substrate materials appears to be a key driver of all the goals the Below Farm team is working on. “With circularity in mind, we are looking at upcycling imported materials as well as using our own waste,” says Weir. “Spent mushroom substrate contains a lot of organic matter, so it is desirable to use it as a soil conditioner. We compost the used mushroom substrate and use it locally to improve soil quality. In addition, we have plans to install a biogas reactor to supplement the soil, a production process that consumes more energy. ”
The farm’s efforts to continually improve its services ultimately led to its enrollment in the MBRIF Innovation Accelerator Program. “MBRIF is a prominent local platform that was recommended to us by fellow entrepreneurs in the UAE ecosystem, so we couldn’t ignore the visibility, connections and mentorship opportunities the program offers,” said Weir. he added. Currently in the scale-up phase of its growth, Below Farm is suffering from “the ‘good problem’ of increasing supply and demand,” Slowinska said.
However, as it stands, the company’s growth plans are not limited to financial metrics alone. “So far, with funding from the founders, the business has been profitable and growing rapidly, with all profits reinvested in expansion,” Slowinski said. “However, our team of 11 people is passionately working to bring the burgeoning trend of fungi-based products to consumers in the Middle East, and we believe that mushrooms can bring not only the health of people but also the health of the planet. We are also passionate about educating people about the benefits. In 2024, we plan to open the region’s first mushroom experience and education center, giving people an opportunity to explore the wonders the fungi kingdom has to offer. From our home base in the UAE, we aim to expand across the Middle East market, positioning us as the go-to fungi experts!”
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