FEEDERS

The cofounders of Saudi's RedSea are on a mission to change how food is sourced in harsh climates, building luscious farms in the arid desert to feed over a billion people.

- NERMEEN ABBAS

In 2018, as the earth faced its fourth warmest year since 1880, three old college friends in Saudi embarked on a journey to leverage technology to sustain food production. Their goal was to overcome the challenges presented by rising temperatures and water scarcity in order to stabilize the food supply. “The idea was simple yet ambitious: to use cutting-edge technology to make local, sustainable food production a reality for over a billion people living in desert areas,” says Ryan Lefers, CEO and Cofounder of RedSea, a Makkah-based startup that’s been enabling commercial farming in harsh climates for five years.

Having launched in a desert country with no permanent rivers or lakes and very little rainfall, Lefers, Mark Tester, and Derya Baran—who met on campus at the King Abdullah University of Science and Technology—are now growing a variety of crops, including snack peppers, tomatoes, cucumbers, and strawberries. The company helps reduce the water usage and carbon footprint of agricultural processes, with combined savings of up to 90%. Today, its patented technologies are used in 12 countries across five continents, from Spain to Saudi Arabia.

The demand for sustainable agricultural technologies has reached a critical level, particularly due to the pressing issue of water scarcity in MENA. According to the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development, 12 of the 17 most water-stressed countries in the world are in MENA.