1 .
Directions: After reading the passages below, fill in the blanks to make the passages coherent and grammatically correct For the blanks with a given word, fill in each blank with the proper farm of the given word; far the other blanks, use one word that best fits each blank.
Sky Kurtz farms in the desert. The co-fbunder and CEO of Pure Harvest Smart Farms— 1 (locate) outside Abu Dhabi, where temperatures regularly top 113°F—and his team use the challenging environs to trial new crops and technologies that have the potential to change farming in climate-challenged areas. Pure Harvest also provides produce to supermarkets and restaurants in Dubai and across the region 2 (use) less water, which is important in one of the most arid regions of the world.
Kurtz founded Pure Harvest Smart Fanns in 2017 with his co-founders Mahmoud Adi and Robert Kupstas. Passionate about food insecurity, they spent the first year studying high-tech food-production systems around the world, 3 searching for the optimal site for their first farm.
Kurtz’s farms in the UAE started out with “ 4 but a PowerPoint, a pile of dirt, and the promise of what we would do,” says Kurtz. But Pure Harvest quickly proved it was built on more than a promise. The founders’ research and technological innovation led to the development of a proprietary (专利的)Controlled-Environment Agriculture (CEA) system—a combination of high-tech greenhouses and vertical farms that 5 (provide) a stable year-round climate. The first crop of tomatoes was planted in August 2018 and harvested in October. The company’s original farm is now its R&D facility, and Pure Harvest has expanded its facilities in the UAE to 16 hectares of growing area. It also operates a 6-hectare farm in Saudi Arabia, and is developing a 6-hectare farm in Kuwait.
It now produces 14 types of leafy greens; two varieties of strawberries, with seven more 6 (develop); and almost 30 varieties of tomatoes, the product that started it all. With limited availability of local, seasonal produce, the UAE has typically imported much of its food, often air-freighted, 7 comes at a high cost, both economically and environmentally. And while they are more expensive compared with locally grown seasonal produce, the company says its fruit and vegetables are typically up to 60% cheaper than air-freighted imports of comparable quality. “I think we’ve fundamentally changed a belief system that said local is 8 (bad).” says Kurtz.
Their vision fits in with a larger objective for Dubai to become more self-sufficient. The focus is not just on growing for premium markets but also developing affordable solutions 9 (help) democratize access to fresh food.
Kurtz hopes the company’s data-driven technology can become a model for other regions that are experiencing climate stress. “We believe that we can develop a local-for-local solution 10 it’s needed most, and we’ve battle-tested that capability in one of the harshest environments in the world." he says.
