The Association for Vertical Farming (AVF) announces the Inaugural 2021 AVF Vanguard Award for Government Leadership in Harnessing Innovation for Sustainable Food Production.

The prestigious annual award recognizes the extraordinary leadership of a State and/or Local Government in spearheading the development and commercialization of vertical/indoor farming and/or related innovations, including those for the new food systems, toward fostering food security and galvanizing a thriving innovation-based food industry.

For the inaugural 2021 Vanguard Award, a nine-member AVF jury representing the industry and the academe deliberated on a shortlist of five nominations and decided to confer the Inaugural 2021 Vanguard Award to The United Arab Emirates (UAE) through the UAE Ministry of State for Food & Water Security. 

The AVF Jury underscored, among other notable UAE accomplishments, the following:

The UAE established the UAE State Ministry of Food & Water Security in 2017 and formulated the UAE National Food Security Strategy 2051 to develop a comprehensive national system based on enabling sustainable food production through the use of modern technologies, etc.

They also established the UAE Food Tech Valley in Dubai on May 1, 2021 with four clusters, including agricultural technology and engineering (including vertical farming for year-round crop production plus automation, robotics, AI, etc.), a food innovation centre, R&D facilities, and an advanced smart food logistics hub; and including an economic zone to host local and global companies and startups toward building an innovation ecosystem around food and vertical farming.

Abu Dhabi (ADIO) is currently building ‘one of the world’s largest vertical farms’. Next to that, the country has at least five active commercial vertical farms are already in operation in the country

The formal conferment of the Inaugural 2021 AVF Vanguard Award will take place during the 5th AVF Annual Summit on 2-3 September in Munich, Germany.