Published on UANews (http://uanews.

org)
College of Agriculture and Life Sciences | November 30, 2012

Faculty members from the UA College of Agriculture and Life Sciences are
teaming up with partners at King Abdullah University of Science and Technology
in Saudi Arabia to create the Desert Agriculture Research Institute.

Food, clean water and energy our planet is challenged to meet these basic needs, especially in
the harshest environments.
To help solve these global problems, faculty members from the University of Arizona College of
Agriculture and Life Sciences are teaming up with partners at King Abdullah University of
Science and Technology, or KAUST, on the Red Sea Coast, north of Jeddah, Saudi Arabia.
The state-of-the-art, progressive public university has turned to the UA a leading institution in
arid lands studies for expertise in the creation of the Desert Agriculture Research Institute.
Kevin Fitzsimmons, director of the UA College of Agriculture and Life Sciences International
Programs and an expert in aquaculture, said the partnership is expected to result in
groundbreaking research that can aid in developing sustainable farming, water and living
systems without damaging the ecosystem.
Much of this research could impact a good portion of the globe, said Fitzsimmons, who recently
returned from KAUST. Desert seacoasts and arid countries have the highest population growth
rates across the planet. We need to find ways to feed, house, employ and find energy for millions
and millions of people in exactly those areas.
Collaborative study at the Desert Agriculture Research Institute is likely to benefit the Middle
East, North Africa, South Asia, the U.S. Southwest and Mexico, Fitzsimmons said. The more we

can develop sustainable, productive farming and energy for people in these countries will be to
everyones benefit.
Fitzsimmons has visited the campus of the new university four times, most recently in October.
KAUST expects to install greenhouses and fish tanks early in 2013 as part of the first phase of
the $60 million project.
The UA is contributing expertise but no funding for the project, with KAUST providing for all
expenses. The university, which opened in 2009, was developed with an endowment from King
Abdullah of Saudi Arabia in conjunction with the Arabian-American Oil Company.
KAUST and the UA recently approved a memorandum of agreement to increase collaborations
across several areas of research and outreach. The agreement could help qualify the Desert
Agriculture Research Institute for significant grants to further research, Fitzsimmons said.
The UA has a history of collaboration with agricultural communities in arid regions around the
world including Saudi Arabia dating back to the 1950s.
Through this most recent collaboration, UA faculty members and students are expected to study
solar energy, desalinization of sea water, greenhouse food production, farming on desert
coastlines and shrimp and fish farming.
KAUST has virtually scoured the planet for top faculty from the Middle East as well as the U.S.,
Korea, China, Canada, Spain and England, Fitzsimmons said.
Several recent UA doctoral graduates have been hired as junior faculty at KAUST, and some
retired UA faculty members have taken more senior positions there. KAUST also is offering
internships to UA students.
UA faculty and students benefit from the partnership in being able to work with an institution that
has state-of-the-art equipment and is conducting state-of-the-art science, Fitzsimmons said.
Fitzsimmons is advising on the creation of sustainable shrimp farms and caged fish farming in
the Red Sea. He has worked with farmers to integrate seaweeds that absorb nutrients from
shrimp waste to create a more sustainable farming method.
This is something I pioneered in Indonesia after the tsunami trying to restore the industry and
make it more sustainable as we rebuild Sumatra, he said.
The Red Sea has been devastated by overfishing. Creating sustainable methods of shrimp
farming and cage farming of amberjacks, snappers, groupers, small tunas and other fish will
create food for people and jobs for fishermen while protecting the Red Sea, Fitzsimmons said.
Edward Glenn, professor of soil, water and environmental science at the UA College of
Agriculture and Life Sciences, has helped KAUST to obtain halophytes plants that tolerate high
salinity and can be raised as crops irrigated with seawater. One idea is to utilize effluent from

shrimp farms to grow plant crops that can be used for direct human consumption, animal forage,
or vegetable oil.
Murat Kacira, associate professor of agricultural and biosystems engineering at the UA
College of Agriculture and Life Sciences, is advising KAUST on designing efficient, sustainable
greenhouses for growing crops in arid and semi-arid lands.
Since the region is hot and humid with little rain, Kacira and Gene Giacomelli, director of the
Controlled Environment Agriculture Center, are charged with helping to create systems that
can generate power for greenhouses using solar energy, cool and dehumidify the air and use
minimal amounts of water.
Kacira will be advising on crop sensing and monitoring systems. He also is helping to select
crops for the greenhouses. Lettuce, spinach, tomatoes and strawberries will grow in floating
hydroponic systems or other media to minimize water and nutrient use, Kacira said.
A goal of the collaboration is to develop a business model and marketing approach that can be
used by growers throughout the world, he added.
Our goal is to come up with a profitable and economically feasible system which could be
adapted and expanded in arid and semi-arid regions to feed the people, Kacira said. The big
picture is food, energy and water.
Story Contacts:
Kevin Fitzsimmons
College of Agriculture and Life Sciences
520-820-0643
kevfitz@ag.arizona.edu
Source URL: http://uanews.org/story/ua-partners-saudi-arabia-create-sustainable-farming-systems
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