First joint vertical farm underway in Abu Dhabi, slated to bring strawberries to market in 2026ABU DHABI, UAE, July 18, 2024 /PRNewswire/ -- Today, Plenty Unlimited Inc. ("Plenty") and Mawarid Holding Investment ("Mawarid")—a subsidiary of Alpha Dhabi Holding, a major publicly listed company on the Abu Dhabi Securities Exchange (ADX)—announced they have entered into an exclusive, multi-year, region-wide partnership to bring locally grown fresh produce to countries across the Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC). The joint venture Plenty and Mawarid have formed will invest more than AED500 million (US$130 million) into the partnership's first project in the GCC – an indoor vertical farm in Abu Dhabi, designed to grow more than 2 million kilograms of strawberries annually. The joint venture plans to develop up to five farms in the next five years, which would require investing up to AED2.5 billion (US$680 million) and bring thousands of direct and indirect employment opportunities to the region.The Abu Dhabi farm will develop a year-round supply of berries with peak-season flavor for both the local UAE market and export to other GCC countries, replacing air freight and reducing food miles compared to current imports. The farm's complete production of strawberries is already pre-committed to Plenty partner and global premium berry leader Driscoll's, which will also contribute its proprietary genetics, global brand and extensive market experience."As part of our strategy to delight berry consumers around the world, we are excited to partner with Plenty and Mawarid on this pioneering project," said Soren Bjorn, CEO of Driscoll's. "The Gulf region and the United Arab Emirates specifically have long been great markets for Driscoll's, and this project will help ensure we can meet the demands of consumers in this market into the future."The new farm will be the world's first commercial-scale vertical strawberry farm outside of North America, following the opening of Plenty's first strawberry farm in Virginia later this year – also in partnership with Driscoll's

Wyoming facility – which will double Plenty's R&D space – enters next phase, progresses toward 2025 openingLARAMIE, Wyo., Nov. 10, 2023 /PRNewswire/ -- Today, Plenty Unlimited Inc. announced significant updates supporting the development of its new R&D facility, which will be the largest and most technologically advanced indoor vertical farming research center in the world. Following the announcement of the project earlier this year, made possible by Wyoming's largest economic development grant ever given, the project steering committee has achieved its first major milestone, selecting MOA Architecture as the architecture and engineering (A&E) firm. Plenty is also adding top talent to its Laramie leadership team – Sasha Preuss has joined the company as its Vice President of Plant Science. Building on decades of experience heading up biology and biotech programs and labs for some of the world's largest agriculture companies, including Bayer and Monsanto, Sasha is now leading Plenty's team of more than 75 scientists in scaling up the company's R&D work."What drew me to Plenty was not just the company's leading technology and runway for innovation and scale, but the genuine passion of everyone on the team to find actionable solutions for one of today's most important, global issues: feeding people," said Sasha Preuss, Plenty Vice President of Plant Science

Plenty Unlimited, which supplies leading grocery retailers on the West Coast, also plans to expand its footprint in California.