Are we entering the era of airborne protein? Introducing a global revolution in food production
Finland has become the focus of a revolutionary shift in food production with the opening of the world's first large-scale factory for producing protein from air and renewable energy. This pioneering project by Solar Foods represents a paradigm change in sustainable nutrition solutions, as the firm Read More...
Artificial intelligence and nanotechnology may help solve world hunger
According to the United Nations, about 840 million people will experience hunger by 2030. This growing global challenge to feed people will only be exacerbated by climate change, increasing populations, and degrading soil quality. Some researchers, however, claim that artificial intelligence and Read More...
Thought Leader Series: Agnes Kalibata on science and the future of farming
Agnes Kalibata is a Rwandan-born agricultural scientist and policymaker. She was recently appointed as UN Secretary-General António Guterres’ special envoy for the 2021 Food Systems Summit, which calls for tangible action on how we produce food to address the limitations of our food system in Read More...
Why seaweed is the future of meatless burgers and renewable energy
Amanda Stiles and Beth Zotter, founders of the startup Trophic, are on a mission to develop the most sustainable supply chain for alternative protein in the world! Their key ingredient? Seaweed. Seaweed has been a staple in Asian diets for centuries because of its high quantities of protein and Read More...
One of Europe’s largest vertical farms harvests its first crops
Vertical farming is often associated with the future of agriculture. But an increasing number of large scale projects across the world are proof that that future is quickly morphing into the present. The most recent proof of this phenomenon is the first-phase completion of one of Europe’s Read More...
Lab-grown chicken to go on sale for the first time after safety approval
When it comes to the meat industry, the numbers are grim for farmed animals. An estimated 130 million chickens and 4 million pigs are slaughtered every day for meat. By weight, 60 percent of the mammals on earth are livestock, 36 percent are humans and only 4 percent are wild. The slaughtering of Read More...
Giant robot in Arizona hunts for crops that thrive in hot climates
On the farmlands of Arizona, the world’s largest farming robot is being rolled out to help secure the future of food. The robot, which is called the Field Scanalyzer, looks a bit like a bridge at first glance, spanning from one side of the crop field to the other. With this vantage point over Read More...
Vertical farms can grow fresh veggies using 90% less water
Out of the fraction of habitable land that exists in our world about 50 percent of it is used for farming. Not only is this stretch of land massive, but agriculture also uses 70 percent of our freshwater supply. Considering how resource intensive classic agriculture is to our society, one might ask Read More...
How microgrids play a role in the future of food
In our Optimist View a couple of weeks ago, we discussed the critical changes that have come from previous pandemics. Food system security is an issue that demanded attention before the outbreak of COVID-19 and the virus has only exacerbated the need for real changes in our food Read More...
This startup wants to enhance our food with plant-based ‘supernutrients’
Inside the San Francisco lab of a biotech startup called Brightseed, computers are analyzing thousands of compounds in tiny samples of plants and searching for new samples of what it calls “supernutrients”—natural compounds that can later be harvested and added to food to help improve Read More...