3 tonnes of lettuce are grown per day, and the area under vertical farming is as large as 2.5 hectares. This is the farm visited by Ignas Hofmann, Minister of Agriculture of the United Arab Emirates (UAE) today.

„During our visit to the UAE, we also visited the world's largest vertical farming greenhouse. The greenhouse grows around 3 tonnes of lettuce per day. The greenhouse is 2.8 hectares and 7 rows up“, – that's how I. Hofman starts his post on „Facebook“ network.

Salad is grown using hydroponics – the practice of growing plants in water enriched with minerals without using soil. The plants are fed with a solution of water containing very precise amounts of dissolved micro and macro elements, or in other words, dissolved fertilisers.

„Exactly the same elements are naturally present in the soil. There is a stereotype in society that fertilisers are something bad, but they are nutrients that plants feed on," commented Mr Hofman.

It makes no difference to a plant what element it feeds on, whether it is naturally occurring or artificially synthesised, because they are exactly the same chemical elements.

„Even more interestingly, nitrogen fertilisers are made from nitrogen in the air, using an appropriate production cycle. For example, potassium fertiliser is not produced but mined, even though it is a naturally occurring deposit of potassium in the ground," continues Mr Hofman. – In summary, fertilisers – are plant nutrients. People's various fears and stereotypes stem from ignorance. For sceptics, I would recommend that you look at your blood test report and see what chemical elements your blood is composed of. They are the same chemical elements“.