🇦🇪 bani farm 🇦🇪 🌱 🌳 🌿 > what is your mission developing and applying high tech innovations to agriculture within the parameters of the uae ecosystem > why this name bani means children but also is used interchangeably to mean tribe we intend bani farm to bring together individuals thus forming a tribe we will also bring technologies together to give birth to new innovations in the agriculture field so bani farm seems to be an appropriate name for our project > why the uae the uae actually presents a unique set of challenges that is very interesting from an agriculture technology standpoint contrary to popular belief the uae has not always been about oil the uae economy was based on pearls for decades as the uae transitioned from diving for pearls to drilling for oil it is now time to transition to digging for plants the uae is blessed with some of the highest solar irradiance in the world considering that photosynthesis the primary growth mechanism for plants depends on sun this is an incredible blessing of course it comes with some ecosystem challenges in the form of high temperatures and low amounts of fresh water but we sincerely believe that with some emerging technologies and some uae specific innovations we will be able to overcome these challenges in due course > how we will implement a series of six programs to support our agriculture tech innovation MESH NETWORK technology can help in agriculture but we need plenty of sensors we intend to build our own custom sensors and deploy our own mesh network using lorawan over our fields this will enable us to communicate within a range of 10 km for our internet of things to make sure all of our data remains in sync in realtime and can be used along with our machine learning algorithms to make salient decisions this will consume relatively little power and be self sustaining due to some micro solar cells on our custom sensors GREEN HOUSE while there is incredible solar irradiance there are also incredibly high temperatures which can damage plants we will aim to create translucent green houses with nano material coatings which will allow the light to go through while minimising the heat transfer from outside this will involve developing new materials with machine learning which can help us iterate over molecular combinations we will also experiment with different structural designs that can help minimise the surface areas and consequently also minimise heat transfer DESALINATION while there is little fresh water in the uae there is a vast coastline with abundant salt water desalination however is an incredibly energy intensive process we will develop a more efficient process using passive solar we will also recycle the brine leftover from desalination and convert it into a form that can be used in sodium ion batteries NUTRIENTS nutrients are the other key factor apart from photosynthesis due to sunshine however nutrient prices can be incredibly volatile and fall victim to unstable supply chains we intend to make our own nutrient ingredients right here in the uae this will involve recycling food waste in custom bioreactors that have genetically engineered yeast bacteria to create the nutrients AB TESTING we intend to speed up the innovation process by borrowing from software practices notably we will implement ab testing we will have fields with slightly different configurations this will help us isolate in a scientific manner what are the most impactful inputs for the growth of our plants RESIDENCY we intend to invite some of the pre eminent agriculture technologists in the world to come spend one month residencies on our farm to test experimental designs we will establish a collaborative research program with wageningen university to encourage these residencies for scholars CONCLUSION through these six programs we intend to tackle the challenge of farming in the uae ecosystem just as oil used to just spring from the ground we envision through technology to have plants spring from the ground for the upcoming generation through our efforts we hope to contribute to increasing the self sufficiency and food security of the uae 🌱 🌳 🌿 🇦🇪 🤲 🇦🇪