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Desert farming is emerging as a critical solution for food production in water-scarce and arid environments. Startups in this space are leveraging technology, biotechnology, and climate-adaptive systems to make agriculture viable in extreme conditions. This article features 10 desert farming solutions, such as sandponic farm software, liquid clay soil enhancers, and rainmaker technology. From algae cultivation and biofertilizers to waste-to-protein systems and decision-support tools, these startups are reshaping how farming thrives in deserts.
Global Startup Heat Map highlights Emerging Desert Farming Startups to Watch
Through the Big Data & Artificial Intelligence (AI)-powered StartUs Insights Discovery Platform, covering over 7M+ startups, 20K+ technology trends plus 150M+ patents, news articles & market reports, we identified 160+ desert farming startups.
The Global Startup Heat Map below highlights the 10 desert farming startups you should watch in 2025 as well as the geo-distribution of 160+ startups & scaleups we analyzed for this research.
According to our data, we observe high startup activity in the United States and the Middle East, followed by India. The top 5 Startup Hubs for desert farming are Dubai, New York City, London, Los Angeles, and Mumbai.
Meet Emerging Desert Farming Solutions to Watch in 2025
We hand-picked startups to showcase in this report by filtering for their technology, founding year, location, funding, and other metrics. These emerging desert farming companies work on solutions ranging from algae production and living soil amendment to liquid natural clay and drone-based precipitation enhancement.
- Saudi Desert Control – Liquid Natural Clay Technology
- Green Desert Technologies – Algae Production
- AtmoCooling – Algorithmically-driven Cooling System
- Carbonovia – Waste-to-Protein Farming
- Leedana Sandponic – Sandponic Farms Management Software
- Siesto Green – Biofertilizer & Biopesticides
- CroBio – Living Soil Amendment
- Rainmaker Technology Corporation – Drone-based Precipitation Enhancement
- iSDA – Soil Analysis and Decision-support Systems
- SaproTerra Distributors – Soil Amendment and Desert Reclamation
1. Saudi Desert Control
- Founding Year: 2023
- Location: Riyadh, Saudi Arabia
- Use For: Liquid Natural Clay Technology
Saudi Desert Control utilizes liquid natural clay (LNC), a natural soil treatment that enables farming in arid lands. The startup employs a formulation process combining natural minerals and clays with water and applies it directly to sandy soil using spray or irrigation systems. This liquid mixture serves as a valuable soil amendment that enhances soil properties and fertility.
Credit: Saudi Desert Control
Moreover, the solution binds with sand particles and creates a sponge-like structure that holds water and nutrients. Further, it turns dry, barren sand into nutrient-rich soil. Hence, improving water retention, lowering water infiltration rates, and improving plant health and crop yields.
2. Green Desert Technologies
- Founding Year: 2020
- Location: Jeddah, Saudi Arabia
- Use For: Algae Production
Green Desert Technologies specializes in optimizing algae production in resource-limited environments. It utilizes a sensor box to monitor light, temperature, pH, nutrients, and algae growth rate in real time. Moreover, it combines live data with machine learning to determine optimal growth conditions.
A control unit then adjusts the environment automatically to maintain those conditions. This setup significantly increases algae yields and lowers production costs.
Credit: Green Desert Technologies
Further, the system enables producers to grow biomass efficiently in arid regions where traditional farming does not work. Green Desert Technologies enables cost-effective, high-yield cultivation in deserts by turning harsh environments into productive agricultural zones.
3. AtmoCooling
- Founding Year: 2022
- Location: Seattle, US
- Use For: Algorithmically-driven Cooling System
- Funding: Secures USD 2.6 million in Pre-Seed Funding
AtmoCooling provides an algorithmically driven evaporative cooling system that creates productive microclimates in arid desert regions. It utilizes proprietary nozzles to control droplet size and enables the evaporation of saline water without using fresh water.
Moreover, this system integrates real-time atmospheric sensors with algorithms trained on decades of weather data to adjust cooling based on local conditions.
Further, it lowers air temperatures across areas of huge hectares and reduces the vapor pressure deficit. This solution improves conditions for year-round farming in extreme heat and helps reduce irrigation demand.
4. Carbonovia
- Founding Year: 2021
- Location: Newbury, UK
- Use For: Waste-to-protein Farming
Carbonovia utilizes waste-to-protein farming technology to turn agricultural waste, food waste, and desert crops into high-protein animal feed. It uses biotechnology to process carbon-rich inputs into protein- and fat-rich cells. Further, it grows drought-tolerant crops like cacti and agave on degraded, semi-arid land to avoid using fertile farmland.
This solution replaces soy meal in livestock feed, which helps reduce pressure on forests and farmland. Moreover, it produces biogenic carbon dioxide as a co-product and captures it for use or storage.
5. Leedana Sandponic
- Founding Year: 2020
- Location: Montreal, Canada
- Use For: Sandponic Farms Management Software
Leedana Sandponic develops a sandponic farms management software to build and manage sandponic farms. The startup provides a closed-loop sandponic farming system that uses fish waste to fertilize the sand, turning it into rich soil. This single process is managed by the software that controls nutrient delivery, monitors water quality, and recycles waste.
Credit: Leedana Sandponic
Moreover, it reduces the dependence on synthetic fertilizers and pesticides by turning sand into a productive growing medium through microbial activity.
Unlike traditional soil, it eliminates weeds, fungal diseases, and water waste, enabling farmers to convert barren or depleted land into productive farms that require low maintenance and deliver high yields.
Want to Explore 160+ Desert Farming Startups & Scaleups?
6. Siesto Green
- Founding Year: 2021
- Location: Raipur, India
- Use For: Biofertilizer & Biopesticides
Siesto Green produces encapsulated biofertilizers and biopesticides for desert and arid farming. The startup uses heat-tolerant microbes and organic inputs like humic acid and seaweed extract to enable plant growth in extreme soil and climate conditions. It delivers these through a patented capsule system that protects microbes and ensures to reach the root zone effectively.
This innovation allows the microbes to survive in soil at high temperatures and function in nutrient-poor, calcareous soils. Moreover, these products improve nutrient availability, strengthen root systems, and increase water retention in dry soils.
Siesto Green enables farmers with a targeted, low-input solution that sustains agriculture in challenging environments, hence benefiting from better yields, healthier crops, and improved soil fertility.
7. CroBio
- Founding Year: 2019
- Location: Cheshire, UK
- Use For: Living Soil Amendment
CroBio provides a living soil amendment that improves drought resilience in agriculture. The startup uses living microbes that grow with the plant and produce bacterial cellulose, a sponge-like material that stores water and nutrients around the roots. This process creates a stable and moisture-rich environment that enables plant growth in dry and sandy soils.
The amendment also draws down atmospheric carbon and increases biodiversity in the soil, which boosts nutrient availability. CroBio delivers a practical solution for consistent yields and long-term soil health in desert farming conditions.
8. Rainmaker Technology Corporation
- Founding Year: 2023
- Location: El Segundo, US
- Use For: Drone-based Precipitation Enhancement
Rainmaker Technology Corporation provides a drone-based precipitation enhancement system that increases rainfall in arid and drought-prone regions. It uses weather-resistant drones to release cloud seeds into targeted cloud zones under optimal conditions for droplet or ice crystal growth.
Credit: Rainmaker Technology Corporation
Moreover, the startup combines real-time radar validation, numerical weather modeling, and environmentally friendly cloud seeding agents to improve precision and scalability. Further, it strengthens municipal water supplies and mitigates the effects of drought.
9. iSDA
- Founding Year: 2020
- Location: Harpenden, UK
- Use For: Soil Mapping Technology
iSDA leverages machine learning-based soil mapping technology that predicts many soil properties across Africa. The startup builds its system using a significant number of geolocated soil samples and research from the African Soil Information Service and other sources. It combines predictive models with spatial agronomy and offers the data through a free, open-access API.
Moreover, this solution improves input efficiency in desert and semi-arid regions where resources are limited, and enables location-specific decisions on fertilization, crop selection, and land use.
iSDA turns complex soil data into practical tools that guide real-world actions to increase productivity and support sustainable agriculture.
10. SaproTerra Distributors
- Founding Year: 2021
- Location: Fair Lawn, US
- Use For: Soil Amendment and Desert Reclamation
SaproTerra Distributors provides soil amendment technology for desert farming and land restoration. It develops organic fertilizers from sapropel, a nutrient-rich freshwater sediment, using a zero-waste process that preserves beneficial microorganisms, humic acids, and essential minerals.
The startup combines soil biology, natural mineral content, and biocomposite innovation to improve water retention, enhance soil structure, and increase nutrient availability in arid and saline environments. Its products neutralize contaminants, restore humus levels, and ensure safe conditions for animals and soil microflora.
SaproTerra offers a regenerative alternative to synthetic fertilizers by restoring soil health and enabling sustainable agriculture in dry and damaged landscapes.
Discover All Emerging AgriTech Startups
The AgriTech startups showcased in this report are only a small sample of all startups we identified through our data-driven startup scouting approach. Download our free AgriTech Innovation Report for a broad overview of the industry or get in touch for quick & exhaustive research on the latest technologies & emerging solutions that will impact your company in 2025!
