Drylands Farms builds large-scale, climate-smart greenhouses across emerging markets, turning marginal land into reliable, year-round food production close to the fast-growing cities that need it most.
As a team of experienced entrepreneurs and farmers with a deep connection to Africa, we noticed the continuous impact of climate change on the food supplies across the continent, especially in fast-growing mega cities, and decided to do something about it.
Drought, soil degradation, post-harvest losses and rapid urbanisation are pushing Africa toward historic import dependence — with the continent’s food-import bill on course to more than quadruple, to around €470bn, by 2043.
We see that structural deficit as both an urgent humanitarian challenge and a compelling commercial opportunity for domestic, climate-smart food production — grown where it is consumed.
Produce close to market, reducing import dependency and securing fresh produce for growing populations.
Shorter supply chains and fewer food miles — produce delivered within 24 hours of harvest.
80–90% less water with near-100% reuse, powered by on-site renewable energy and water management solutions.
10–12 full-time jobs per hectare — real livelihoods with living wages, not seasonal labour.
Oder 20, The Hague, Netherlands — the engineering and horticultural home of Dutch glasshouse expertise.
Our first deployments, developed as part of the Just Energy Transition with Eskom and local partners.
Drylands Farms is structured around three deliberate ESG commitments that govern how we operate. These commitments are not incidental to our business model; they are embedded in our site selection, infrastructure design, hiring practices, and supply chain decisions. They also generate direct contributions to six UN Sustainable Development Goals, where we believe we can demonstrate measurable progress.
We operate on renewable energy, deploy closed-loop water systems that eliminate agricultural runoff, use biological pest controls in place of synthetic chemicals, and produce food where it is consumed, minimising food miles and cold chain dependency
Every Drylands facility is designed to create 80–300 permanent, skilled jobs with structured training programmes. We source inputs and services locally wherever possible, and apply equal access hiring across all departments and seniority levels.
Our precision farming data infrastructure creates full traceability from seed to shelf. We report against measurable operational targets (energy consumption, water use, yield per m², and employment), rather than qualitative commitments.
High-nutrition produce at scale, close to urban populations, at prices that match or undercut imports
80–90% water reduction; zero runoff into local water sources or aquifers
300+ permanent jobs per facility; climate-smart agriculture training programmes
Peri-urban production cuts supply chain distances and insulates cities from import disruption
Extended shelf life, minimised waste, biodegradable packaging where possible
Renewable energy, zero synthetic inputs, and local production replacing long-haul food imports