Partnership formed to accelerate climate-smart desert agriculture

Silal's Innovation Oasis (iO), the state-of-the-art research and development hub in Al Ain designed to transform agricultural technology, has signed a landmark collaboration agreement with Square Roots, a global agritech company specialising in modular controlled-climate farming and Al-powered cultivation systems, to advance climate-smart agriculture and accelerate breakthrough solutions for desert farming.

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The partnership represents a major step forward in the UAE's efforts to strengthen food security, enhance water efficiency and build a next-generation agricultural innovation ecosystem. The agreement combines Innovation Oasis's desert agriculture expertise with Square Roots’ global leadership in controlled-climate farming, indoor crop science and Al-enabled agricultural applications.

Under the agreement, Square Roots will deploy a multi-zone, fully cloud-connected, artificial intelligence-powered research facility on the iO site. The facility will serve as a national testbed for fast-tracking innovation in indoor and desert farming by enabling parallel trials on desert-adapted crops, low-light genetics, modular indoor farming systems and generative Al technologies tailored for agriculture.