Managing director Elena Kinane reveals more about the organisation’s produce, the challenges, and how the F&B industry can support it
When was the farm set up, and what is its ethos?
Greenheart Organic Farms was launched in 2012. We are passionate about growing genuine organic produce in the UAE’s harsh desert climate. We sell directly to the local community and restaurants, cutting out third-party traders. All our produce is freshly harvested only hours before sale, and we pride ourselves on growing old-fashioned heirloom varieties strictly without the use of any chemicals in naturally nutrient rich soil. Our expanding selection currently includes more than 120 different varieties of vegetables, herbs and fruit. We also sell our own free-range, grass-fed, organic chicken eggs.
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Why did you think there was a need for such a venture?
When I first moved to the UAE in the mid-90s there wasn’t any locally-grown organic produce available and the overall selection in supermarkets was poor. I started growing a few vegetables and leafy items on my balcony and later in my garden. Having grown up in an eco-friendly household where home-grown organic produce was part of everyday life, this wasn’t difficult.
After a period of trial and error, the results were pretty impressive and I teamed up with some Emirati friends and grew on a larger scale on their farms outside Dubai. During this time I visited many farms and realised that produce was grown in sand with the help of lots of chemicals with virtually no soil building or seed collection. The produce had no taste and was in many cases highly toxic. The desire to do better was born, and meeting up with farm engineer Azzam Mubarak made it possible to take the trials to another level.
This evolved into a larger scale project and in 2008 we launched Nazwa Organic Farms. Although this enterprise quickly became popular, it was sadly short-lived. Equipped with more skills and experience we started out again and soon set up Greenheart Organic Farms.
What can we find growing at your farm, and how big is it?
Our main farm is huge, but we are currently only using a small part of it. We can only expand once we have enough of our own farm-made compost. It takes about six months for the plant/crop leftovers and the animal manure to break down. All our animals (chickens, goats, cows and camels) are grass-fed with alfalfa grown on the farm.
The chickens and goats also get treats of herbs and vegetables that aren’t fit for sale. We are currently growing on 7000 square metres indoors and about 25,000 square metres outdoors. Last summer we extended by another 12 grow houses so we’re expecting to produce almost 100 tonnes of vegetables, herbs and fruit this year.
We’ve been collecting our own seeds for the past three years and much research has gone into selecting the best varieties for the UAE climate. Next to the usual varieties like tomatoes, cucumbers, courgettes, lettuce and herbs, we also grow a large selection of unusual varieties such as lemon and melon cucumbers, heirloom tomatoes such as ‘Costoluto’, ‘San Marzano’, ‘Oxheart’ and ‘Black Krimm’.
We also have six different kale varieties including Scarlet and Black Tuscan, carrots such as round ‘Parisian Market’ and ‘Purple Dragon’, rhubarb, golden and Swiss chard, Amazonian Aztec broccoli, broccoli raab, mustard greens, several varieties of spinach, pak choi, sweetcorn, celery, different types of cabbage and cauliflower, Genovese basil, melons, strawberries and more.
During growing season we add about 3-4 new items to our list of produce each week. This week for instance we’ve started harvesting French Breakfast radishes, Burgundy spinach and ‘Narandello’ sweet peppers.
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