Oakland, Calif., April 29, 2019 -- Crop One Holdings, the world’s leading vertical farm operator through its FreshBox Farms brand, has won the Best Innovation in Indoor Farming Award at the 2019 Global Forum for Innovations in Agriculture (GFIA) conference in Abu Dhabi, UAE. Crop One Holdings was recognized for being a leader in confronting core environmental, economic, and social issues, combining spatial optimization with resource efficiency to grow leafy greens year round.

The company announced a $40 million joint venture agreement with Emirates Flight Catering last year, to build the world’s largest vertical farming facility in Dubai, UAE. The controlled environment facility in Dubai, will be 130,000 square feet and use 99 percent less water than traditional fields to produce three US tons of high-quality, herbicide- and pesticide-free leafy greens daily.

“This award is a testament to our commitment to responsibly feed our planet’s 7.4 billion people,” said Sonia Lo Crop One Holdings chief executive officer. “We are firm believers in building a more sustainable world, and aim to continue being a thought leader in this industry.”

Seven years after its founding in 2012, Crop One is now the world’s largest vertical farmer and the only one to consistently maintain a gross profit. The company’s patented grow process, created and augmented by top plant scientists and systems engineers, allows its farm to grow 400 acres worth of outdoor-grown produce in 1 acre of warehouse space. The GFIA judging criteria was on four main criteria: environmental sustainability, innovation, productivity and impact.

“The GFIA Innovation Awards celebrates some of the world’s most pioneering developments in agriculture,” said GFIA Event Director David Stradling. “Crop One has a proven dedication to providing innovative solutions to one of the world’s most complex problems by combining soilless hydroponic growing technology with advanced plant science to produce local, fresh greens globally.”

GFIA was founded in 2014 and is the global authority on innovative, sustainable agriculture practices and food production. Its Innovation Awards are designed to celebrate innovations that help to improve global food security while maintaining and improving sustainable agriculture practices.

About Crop One Holdings

Oakland, California - based Crop One is a vertical farming holding company for two subsidiaries – FreshBox Farms, Millis, Massachusetts, and a joint venture with Emirates Flight Catering, Dubai South, United Emirates. Crop One has been in commercial production longer than any other major vertical farmer in the U.S. It produces the highest crop yield per square foot, at 25% of the capital cost, of any vertical farm, due to its unique combination of proprietary technology platform and best-in-class plant science.

For more information about Crop One and vertical farming follow the link to cropone.ag.

About Emirates Flight Catering

Emirates Flight Catering is one of the world’s largest catering operations. Offering airline, events and VIP catering as well as ancillary services including laundry, food production and airport lounge food & beverage, Emirates Flight Catering is a trusted partner of over 100 airline customers, hospitality groups and UAE government entities. Each day, the company’s 11,000 dedicated employees prepare an average of 225,000 meals and handle 210 tonnes of laundry.