Key Takeaways
- Giovanni Angiolini stresses that controlled environment agriculture requires long-term capital, with realistic ROI timelines of six to eight years.
- He warns that vertical farming failures have weakened investor trust, making capital access more difficult for serious operators.
- Fragmented value chains remain a structural weakness, limiting the competitiveness of local producers.
- Water allocation, energy integration, and crop strategy require more strategic coordination, particularly in arid climates.
- Modernization depends on shifting mentality and attracting the “farmer of tomorrow.”
Food security across the Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC) has become a strategic priority, embedded within broader economic diversification agendas. Yet according to Giovanni Angiolini, Director Middle East & Africa (MEA) of Dutch Greenhouse Delta And Owner of Trapital, ambition alone will not secure the region’s agricultural future.
In an extended conversation, Giovanni Angiolini outlined both the opportunities and systemic constraints shaping controlled environment agriculture (CEA) across the GCC.
Giovanni Angiolini: From Business Consultant to Horticulture Bridge Builder
Building a Public-Private Model
Giovanni Angiolini’s role today centers on coordinating collaboration between Dutch horticulture companies, governments, and knowledge institutes in the Middle East. The approach relies on a public-private framework designed to offer not just greenhouse infrastructure, but operational expertise across the full value chain.
“We work with a so-called triple helix approach—public, private and knowledge institutes,” Giovanni Angiolini explains. “We do not only focus on, ‘Here is our greenhouse.’ We can also explain how to operate the greenhouse and how to manage it in the long term.”
The objective is to present a comprehensive ecosystem—from seed companies to post-harvest logistics—rather than fragmented technical solutions. However, translating that into local adoption has proven complex.
“My job is to translate that into a USP for the market,” he says. “And that is sometimes quite challenging… because in the end they want to see, ‘What is the return on investment in two years?’”
Giovanni Angiolini on ROI Expectations in the GCC
“There Is No ROI in Two Years”
A recurring tension in the GCC market is the expectation of rapid financial returns.
“There is no ROI in two years—unfortunately,” Giovanni Angiolini states. “It takes six to eight years minimum, depending on the crop.”
He argues that this mismatch between agricultural timelines and investor expectations remains one of the biggest obstacles to modernization.
“If you are really serious about your food security strategy, you should also accept the long-term ROI,” he adds. “If you think like, ‘No, we need to be food secure, but in the same time we also need to make it a proper business,’ then you have to find the right balance.”
The Aftermath of Vertical Farming Failures
High-profile setbacks in vertical farming have also reshaped the investment climate.
“If in the end a farm has to file for Chapter 11, it’s not working for other people that have very good ambitions and initiatives as well,” Giovanni Angiolini says. “Because they cannot find the investors anymore—the trust in the market has lessened.”
He suggests that capital sources need to evolve.
“In the past, it was the VC or the bank. Nowadays, I think your most important investor in controlled environment agriculture would be a family office,” he explains. “They see it through multi-generations.”
Giovanni Angiolini on Open Markets and the Competitiveness Dilemma
Modernization vs. Price Sensitivity
The GCC’s open economy policy presents a structural paradox. Imported produce often remains cheaper than locally grown crops, especially when domestic farms adopt advanced technologies.
“When you modernize your farming system, your crops will be more expensive,” Giovanni Angiolini explains. “So not every farmer is willing to do so.”
He emphasizes that modernization increases efficiency and water savings—but also raises costs. Without structured support, local growers struggle to compete purely on price.
“There Is No Value Chain”
Beyond pricing, fragmentation remains a systemic issue.
“There is no value chain,” Giovanni Angiolini says. “You still see too many individual islands there.”
He argues that agriculture cannot function effectively as isolated projects. Producers, retailers, logistics operators, waste management initiatives, and policymakers must coordinate.
“As long as that remains individual and everybody is only pleading for their own priority, you won’t see the change happening,” he says. “It needs to be complementary.”
Giovanni Angiolini on Water, Crop Strategy and Resource Allocation
Rethinking What to Grow
Water scarcity remains a defining constraint across the region. Giovanni Angiolini questions whether current crop strategies always align with long-term sustainability.
“Maybe we should sit down and discuss what we really need to secure a country,” he suggests. “What is the definition of food security?”
He points to water-intensive livestock feed production as an example of a policy area requiring deeper strategic evaluation.
Sustainability vs. Financial Reality
“Sustainability and finance do not always go together,” Giovanni Angiolini states bluntly.
While vertical farming and high-tech greenhouses reduce water use and allow year-round production, they require significant capital expenditure and operational expertise.
“We all talk about sustainability,” he adds. “But do we really do it?”
Giovanni Angiolini on Mentality and the Farmer of Tomorrow
“The Biggest Challenge Is Mentality”
For Giovanni Angiolini, technological capability is not the core issue. Cultural adaptation is.
“The biggest challenge we have over here is to change the traditional way of farming into modern farming,” he says. “They still look at you like, ‘Who are you? My father, my grandfather taught me how to farm—why should I change?’”
He believes the focus should shift toward the next generation.
“Our target audience should be the farmer of tomorrow,” Giovanni Angiolini explains. “Make sure that you prepare your country also in a modern society with regards to agriculture.”
He recounts presenting agricultural robotics and AI systems to students.
“In the beginning of my lecture, I asked, ‘Who wants to be a farmer in the future?’ Nobody raised their hand,” he says. “At the end of the lecture—after showing robotics, digitalization, predictive farming—almost three-quarters of the class raised their hand.”
For him, that shift captures the sector’s future.
Giovanni Angiolini on Food Security as Resilience
Preparing for Disruption
Giovanni Angiolini defines food security primarily as resilience.
“If another epidemic starts again and countries decide not to export anymore, you need to be prepared,” he says.
He references previous export restrictions during global crises and the vulnerabilities exposed during COVID-19.
Food security, in his view, is directly tied to national resilience—water availability, geopolitical stability, and supply chain continuity.
“It works like a domino effect,” Giovanni Angiolini explains. “If the government realizes it, the investor will realize it, and then the farmer will realize it, and the consumer will realize it.”
Short-, Medium-, and Long-Term Outlook According to Giovanni Angiolini
Short Term (0–5 Years)
“In the short term, I don’t foresee that many changes,” Giovanni Angiolini says. “The ambitions remain high, but the executions remain very low.”
Some projects have been canceled or downsized, and financial caution remains prevalent.
Medium Term (5–10 Years)
Population growth will increase structural pressure.
“Mouths need to be fed,” he notes. “So there is enough business for everyone if it comes to food production.”
Long Term (10+ Years)
On a longer horizon, divergence appears likely.
“The countries that will stay stubborn will face big, big challenges in the future,” Giovanni Angiolini says. “While other countries that are willing to change… will become the leader in food security and the example for other countries.”
Ultimately, he believes coordination must begin at the highest level.
“It has to start somewhere,” he concludes. “And whether we like it or not, it should start with the federal level.”
The GCC’s agricultural transformation remains ongoing. According to Giovanni Angiolini, its success will depend not on ambition alone—but on disciplined execution, realistic financial expectations, coordinated value chains, and a generational shift toward technology-driven farming.
