UAE-Based Below Farm's locally cultivated mushrooms

Temperatures that range between 15-24°C, wet and nutritive soil, and dark, cool conditions aren't necessarily the phrases one would choose to describe the landscapes of the UAE. But did you know these conditions are an absolute must when cultivating mushrooms? And yet, in a tale of achieving the seemingly impossible, Below Farm, an agritech company located in the capital city of Abu Dhabi, has found a way to grow mushrooms in the UAE all year round using local raw materials. "Established in 2021, with the first mushrooms harvested from the farm in Abu Dhabi in 2022, we have worked hard to localize the cultivation of mushrooms for arid climates," says Liliana Slowinska, co-founder and Business Development Director of Below Farm. "This requires a complex controlled environment system, which has been optimized for the hot, dry desert environment. But we have taken it one step further, growing on substrate materials -such as palm leaves from date farms- that are locally available."

Slowinska conceptualized the idea for Below Farm with her husband, Wojciech Slowinski (who is Below Farm's Technical Director), and they were soon joined by a third co-founder, Bronte Weir, with whom Slowinska had been acquainted with during her corporate career in the fast-moving consumer goods (FMCG) industry. But the three co-founders' dynamic with mushroom farming goes way beyond a collectively created business idea. You see, as natives of Poland, all of them have been accustomed to the act of mushroom picking- a tradition that has been followed in the Slavic country for centuries, with the knowledge of particular species regularly passed from generation to generation. Combining such experiences with their individual expertise, the trio decided to target a niche within the UAE's agricultural sector.

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