August 8, 2016

Pegasus Agriculture, a leading owner and operator of hydroponic farms across the Middle East and North Africa (MENA), announced its plans to expand into the U.S. market with the construction of a large-scale hydroponic farming facility in Florida.

Toward this end, the company has secured a 15-year lease on 77 acres in Florida – a region that the company has noted has been significantly affected by climate change, with the option to extend the lease by another 15 years at the conclusion of its term.

With a head office in Dubai, Pegasus Agriculture sees hydroponics as a key tool to ensuring food security in the face of climate change, sprawling population, and the loss of arable land. Using premium seeds sourced from Europe, the sharia-compliant company plants in a bed of rock wool, using 90 percent less water, zero soil, and producing fresh produce 300 percent quicker on 75 percent less space than traditional agricultural production, according to its website.

Although advances in technology resulted in an increase in food production in the MENA region in the 1990s, the region is still expected to see a food deficit of between 50 million tons and 90 million tons by 2020.

The group’s cornerstone project was launched in 2013 through a partnership with Gardinia Hydroponic Farming (GHF) in Oman, and in April 2014 the group announced its expansion into Saudi Arabia – a country that imports 95 percent of its fresh fruits and vegetables, with a 20,000 square meter hydroponic farm that is designed to produce 1,400 tons of produce per hectare.

Through land lease deals, the company partners with municipalities, governments, and private landowners to construct farming operations to grow fresh produce for regional distribution. With projects in the pipeline for Turkey, Kuwait, Qatar, Malaysia, and Singapore, this latest project is the group’s first in the U.S., and one that Pegasus Agriculture’s Managing Director, Naveed Hussain states will help the company “realize its international potential.”

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Lynda Kiernan