This greenhouse keeps crops cool. It could prove valuable as our planet bakes

A prototype farm in Bada, Saudi Arabia, uses SecondSky in polyethylene greenhouse covers manufactured by SABIC. (Courtesy SABIC via CNN Newsource)

In a world where the climate is increasingly hot and volatile, farmers are having trouble keeping their crops cool. A startup founded in the desert of Saudi Arabia thinks it might have a solution.

Its technology reduces temperatures inside greenhouses by up to seven degrees Celsius, without losing any light, by using nanotechnology embedded within plastic polymer sheeting to cut out near infrared solar radiation. By reducing heat inside greenhouses, the company claims crops can be grown with as much as 30 per cent less water, and less energy required in a greenhouse with mechanical cooling.

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Called SecondSky, it was developed by Derya Baran, an associate professor in material science and engineering at the King Abdullah University of Science and Technology (KAUST).

The prize-winning design was quickly commercialized and now boasts buyers in 15 countries, via Iyris (formerly RedSea), a company spun out of the research efforts at KAUST.

Saudi Arabia, Egypt and the United Arab Emirates were among the earliest countries to adopt the technology, Iyris executive chairperson John Keppler told CNN – hot, dry, resource-scarce countries looking to curb their reliance on imports for fresh produce.

But since then, farmers in parts of the US, Latin America, Mexico, Europe, South Africa and Morocco have started installing SecondSky coverings. These are, said Keppler, countries that historically have benefited from a robust set of environmental attributes that are changing rapidly: “It’s not even just future-proofing, it’s current-proofing; it’s writing an insurance policy,” he said.

Following the hottest summer globally on record, this year is all but certain to be the warmest in history, per Europe’s Copernicus Climate Change Service, with many extreme heat events felt across the world – events becoming more possible due to human-induced climate change.

These conditions put a massive strain on agriculture. Heat peaks can desiccate crops, killing them outright if unmitigated, or stressing crops, leaving them more vulnerable to pests and disease. Avoiding a decrease in crop yield typically requires increased energy inputs – more water, more cooling, more fertilizer – resources that may be depleted or simply unavailable.

“The mission of this company is to enable sustainable agriculture, and we’re making some very important progress against a really difficult challenge,” said Keppler. “The sooner we can deliver drop-in solutions for regular-way agriculture, the better off we’re going to be.”

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Iyris has integrated SecondSky into flexible polyfilm, which is used for polytunnels, plastic sheets for rigid greenhouses, and netting.

Polyfilm is typically replaced every three to five years, said Keppler, and can be easily swapped in. Iyris says that unlike some traditional interventions to block heat, such as applying white chalk to plastic film, its additive does not negatively impact the plastic’s lifespan.

The company has partnered with plastics producers such as SABIC in Saudi Arabia, Hyma Plastic in Egypt and Armando Alvarez in Spain to manufacture and distribute coverings containing its heat-blocking additive, and it says to date 4.5 million square metres of its materials have been sold.

Vincent Martin, director of the Office of Innovation at the UN Food and Agriculture Organization, told CNN via email that “a number of agritech start-ups have emerged in recent years to address regional food production challenges, especially investing in protected agriculture.”

These companies are “adapting to the realities of extreme heat through innovations in resilient crops, controlled environments, smart irrigation, and renewable energy. However, scaling these solutions to reach smallholder farmers and addressing cost barriers are critical for broader adaptation.

“Continued investment in research, infrastructure, policies and farmer education will be key,” he added.

Homegrown solutions for growing at home

While Iyris has its sights on the global market (it received US$16 million in series A fundraising earlier this year) SecondSky is having a hand in redefining what’s possible in agriculture closer to home.

In Saudi Arabia, the National Food Production Initiative, a partnership including Iyris and regenerative tourism developer Red Sea Global, created a 0.75-hectare farm on unproductive land in Bada, in the northwest of the country, a subtropical desert where summer temperatures average just below 40 degrees Celsius (104 degrees Fahrenheit).

The project, announced in October, is integrating multiple homegrown agritech solutions, including SecondSky, to grow crops such as tomatoes, cucumbers, peppers and herbs, supplied to Red Sea Global resorts.

“(We’re) proving these incredibly innovative outcomes in the harshest environment in the world,” said Keppler.

The farm in Bada has prompted a local cooperative to explore replicating the model, he added.

Making use of unproductive land, and preventing land from becoming unproductive, will come into increased focus as the century progresses. Desertification is a pressing issue and will be the focus of the UN Convention to Combat Desertification’s COP16 in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia, in December, as leaders seek to curtail an accelerating problem. Worldwide, at least 100 million hectares of healthy land are lost each year, per the United Nations – the equivalent of four soccer fields of healthy land is becoming degraded every second.

In Saudi Arabia, for example, where less than one per cent of land is considered arable, water requirements for crop cultivation can be three times the global average, and the kingdom’s groundwater aquifers, a major source of water for agriculture, are decreasing, having been extracted at higher rates than they are being replenished.

“Agritech and sustainable agricultural practices can play a crucial role in mitigating or reversing desertification,” said Martin, through things like sustainable land management, water management innovations, development of resilient crops, and soil restoration techniques.

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He added that switching, to some extent, from open field production to protected agriculture could save a significant amount of water, and that greenhouses in hot climates are “particularly suited to offset the effects of climate change,” because growers can control factors such as temperature and humidity.

“Greenhouses can yield up to five times the land productivity and seven times the water productivity of open cultivated lands,” added Martin.

Leaving more natural resources untouched can only be a good thing; likewise lowering the requirements to make marginal land arable.

“What you need to do is be able to create an environment where you’re reducing the environmental stressors that enable that land to be utilized, said Keppler. “And that’s what products like SecondSky do.”

With sales increasing, according to Iyris, and plans to integrate SecondSky into a wider range of products in 2025, the company hopes that beating the heat inside greenhouses around the world can help us beat the heat outside them too.