When Germany-based indoor farming firm &ever (formerly Farmers Cut) needed to transform its production of previously-imported greens and herbs to meet discerning restaurant demand in Kuwait, it turned to SAP.
SAP solutions architect Daniel Degraf said the &ever indoor farm operation in Kuwait uses in-memory database SAP HANA to store Internet of Things (IoT) data to analyse with the help of logistics and production applications on SAP Cloud Platform.
Dr. Jan-Gerd Frerichs, CTO at &ever, said: “Our production planning is based entirely on the Business Technology Platform from SAP, which allows us to optimise production according to the needs and capacities of the farm.”
SAP partner IBsolution supported the software implementation and development of a solution that monitors seeding and germination as well as carbon dioxide levels, air temperature, humidity and air flow across hundreds of data points, such as IoT sensors and edge computing devices.
Loren Heilig, MD of IBsolution, said SAP Cloud Platform helped make the farmhouses manageable with few people at maximum utilisation.
An &ever project engineer based in Kuwait, Rami Safareni, said the newly-opened indoor farm can produce 550kg of salad a day, including some 250 different plant types.
The results are essentially “better than organic” because they use 90% less water, 60% less fertiliser and no pesticides, according to Safareni.
Faisal Al Meshal is managing director at NOX, which runs one of the first &ever local customers, Kuwait City-based ‘Japanese tapas’ fusion restaurant Ora.
He said: “We used to import all our greens mainly from Europe, but now we have a local solution that is tastier and fresher.”
Building on the success of the Kuwait project, &ever is planning sustainable farms in cities throughout Africa and Asia that have unfavourable climatic conditions – hoping to feed millions efficiently.
