Topian, the Neom Food Sector company was formed in 2022 and under the leadership of Juan Carlos Motamayor achieved impressive progress against ambitious targets: It built high-tech greenhouses and a vertical farm in Oxagon, as well as high-tech and retractable roof greenhouses in Tabuk, Saudi Arabia. The multinational team of engineers, growers, financiers, and marketers work from the Neom offices near the Red Sea. They put their competence and experience to the objective of producing sustainable and nutritious food by building world-class production facilities and using the latest agricultural technologies. Topian is piloting different varieties, growing methods, and sensors to collect data to improve crop productivity and reduce environmental impact.
Topian's high-tech greenhouse in Oxagon produces lettuce, tomatoes, and strawberries
In 2025, the company plans to add open-field fruit orchards to its portfolio and the first two categories are table grapes and berries. "Saudia Arabia imports more than 70 000 tons of table grapes in addition to domestic production volume of approximately 110 000 tons. most of the supply occurs during summer months and this window is oversupplied and lower priced," says Konstantine Vekua, agricultural projects manager of Topian. "However, during September-December supply reduces and prices are improving. This window is mostly filled with imported volumes from Türkiye, Italy, Spain, and Chile. We want to target this window initially and we analyzed climate data for the last 20 years for the Tabuk area and consulted with top table grape experts from California, Spain, and Egypt and came to the conclusion that producing late table grape varieties will be feasible."
The company has done extensive soil and water tests and found suitable land with very low salinity levels (EC <0.5ds/m) and a sufficient amount of good-quality water.
"We plan to set up a 300-ha orchard of table grapes in phases with varieties from leading global breeders, together with various colors of grapes, we will also test Saudi Arabian consumer preferences for factors such as crunchiness, flavor, and taste. We are a very consumer-oriented and market-driven company and before making final choices we will import trial volumes of different grapes and conduct consumer panels in various cities," said Konstantine Vekua.
Berries is another focus category for Topian. Saudi Arabia fully relies on the import of berries. Approximate import volumes for strawberries, raspberries, blackberries, and blueberries are 25,000 tons per year.
"While we plan to produce most of our strawberries in high-tech and mid-tech greenhouses, for other berries we are evaluating retractable roofs, nets, and polytunnel growing systems and cooperating with crop experts and technology providers and learning from experiences of growers from similar climate zones."
Konstantine highlights that Topian is a partnership-oriented company and the preferred model of business is joint ventures with already established companies in the sector who have many years of experience in growing and selling these crops. Konstantine recently visited Fruit Logistica in Berlin to open discussions with international grape and berry-producing and trading companies.
Konstantine Vekua
Topian
Konstantine.vekua@neom.com
Tel: +995577766752