How will we feed the world?

          One in nine people are hungry every night when they go to bed (1). As the population continues to grow to 9 billion, agriculture must increase in both sustainability and yield to decrease hunger now and for future generations. Hunger and malnutrition will worsen as the population grows. The main question is how enough food will be grown in such a short period of time. This is a global issue which allows many people to have opinions about accomplishing this goal. Strategies for creating more sustainable agriculture dominate this topic.

Organic agriculture is the mainstream form of sustainable agriculture in developed countries. People buy more expensive, organic food for the guarantee of no chemical use, higher nutritional content, and protection of the environment. The largest critique of organic farming is that the yields will never be as high as conventional farming, but this has been studied, reviewed, and found to be false (2). Figure 1 summarize data collected during 40 years of studies showing that organic farming is superior to conventional methods in four categories: productivity, economics, environment, and community well-being. Organic farming will increase the food security, but will the implementation of sustainable methods such as organic farming occur quickly enough?

Figure 1: An assessment of organic farming relative to conventional farming illustrates that organic systems better balance the four areas of sustainability. Credit: Reganold and Wachter

            The only thing growing faster than the global population is the growing use of technology in daily life. Technology is spreading rapidly throughout the world and could be the answer to food security for the future by making research more efficient and developing methods to increase organic yields. Current research focuses around new fertilization techniques (3), genetically programed soil (4), and the use of drones to monitor plants and yields (4; 5). An essential technological development is the use of artificial intelligence to monitor plant growth. Sensors and drones can help maximize efficiency and minimize waste by collecting data on quality of plants, pest location, resource availability, and soil quality (5). This technology can also maximize agriculture research and development (5) because these projects require enormous amounts of data collection and data analysis.  For example, soil microbes are crucial for soil health and high crop yields. Researchers are finding ways to program soil microbes to create healthier soils that require less external inputs such as fertilizer and water  (4). These techniques involve technology such as genetic sequencing but also require enormous amounts of data collection. Technology such as drones can collect data and increase the efficiency of these studies. Technology is not just about implementing computer programs or drones, it is also about using resources that are already available in a new way. In developing countries technology like drones and artificial intelligence may be financially impossible to implement. However, if technology is applied to develop and maximize the efficiency of resources, new techniques may be affordable to these countries. One example is the use of human waste as fertilizer (3). This method would work well for agricultural areas close to cities since cities produce lots of waste. It could also reduce importing expensive fertilizers. The technology must be improved to treat the waste efficiently and transport it practically (3). These methods can make agriculture more sustainable by reducing waste and external inputs. Overall, technology has increased the speed of agricultural innovation while also allowing new techniques to be created.

            Other views believe that technology will not be able to feed the growing population. Some say the growing population will result in the loss of biodiversity and the soil’s capacity to produce crops and the only way to feed the world is to reduce the population (6). Population growth must be limited, but strategies such as organic farming work to increase biodiversity and protect the soil. Others believe that technology will be limited by economic stress and societal pressures (7). The public already opposes innovations such as genetically modified crops (GMOs), so there may be other innovations that the public rejects. This can be avoided mainly by educating the public on the benefits of sustainable agriculture and the usefulness of technology.  Implementation of new technology can increase costs, but can ultimately pay for itself in the form of higher yields and efficiency. 

            I believe that a balanced system of sustainable agricultural practices such as organic farming along with new techniques that benefit specific areas such as human waste fertilizer and the implementation of artificial intelligence is the only way we will be able to feed the world in the next generations. With the increase of soil quality, yields will increase, and economies will flourish while the people are fed. Technology when implemented carefully and with consideration for the environment and society will allow us to increase food production and food security globally. 

           

Sources:

1. Zero Hunger. (n.d.). Retrieved March 9, 2019, from https://www1.wfp.org/zero-hunger
2. Kantor, S. (2016, February 3). Organic agriculture key to feeding the world sustainably. ScienceDaily. Retrieved April 7, 2019, from www.sciencedaily.com
3. University of Illinois. (2018, August 16). Human wastewater valuable to global agriculture, economics. ScienceDaily. Retrieved April 7, 2019, from www.sciencedaily.com
4. DOE/Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory. (2018, March 14). Digging deep: Harnessing the power of soil microbes for more sustainable farming. ScienceDaily. Retrieved April 7, 2019, from www.sciencedaily.com
5. Newman, Danial. (2019, February 7). 4 Ways Artificial Intelligence Will Drive Digital Transformation In Agriculture. Forbes. Retrieved April 7, 2019, from www.forbes.com
6. German Centre for Integrative Biodiversity Research. (2019, March 4). Biodiversity crisis: Technological advances in agriculture are not a sufficient response. ScienceDaily. Retrieved April 7, 2019, from www.sciencedaily.com
7. University of East Anglia. (2018, December 21). Responsible innovation key to smart farming. ScienceDaily. Retrieved April 7, 2019, from www.sciencedaily.com