to the agri-future!

The agriculture industry is entering a new age, facing an increasing need to grow more food with increasingly limited resources and unprecedented challenges. It is important that we start to consider what this will mean in terms of growing our food and fiber well into the future. Really though, we already have or are developing a lot of the solutions we need in order to feed and support our world in 2050. With all the new advancements in science and engineering we have been able to produce new technologies and techniques that we can implement into agriculture now to be ready for the growing population.

The huge amount of growing techniques that have been discovered have allowed us to grow larger crop yields in less space, use less pesticides and herbicides for more organic crops, and grow food in places we never have before. Lots of these new techniques have even been proven to be better for the environment as well. Organic farming is one technique used that helps to maintain productivity, especially in soil health. Using cover crops, mulches and compost conserves water, builds nutrients, and maintains soil health to be able to grow healthier, more nutritious crops in certain areas for longer amounts of time. Other growing techniques like vertical farming, hydroponics, and aeroponics have also shown to be more efficient since they don’t use soil and use a significantly lower amount of water, between 70-90%. They also take up less space and are in enclosed buildings which makes them perfect for growing in difficult environments. We can also use greenhouses in difficult environments. Greenhouses are an extremely efficient way to grow plants, because they create their own environment and can sustain themselves. They allow for farming in more extreme conditions like a very cold or very hot desert and allow productivity all year round. Greenhouses can up to triple the amount of crop yields produced.

Technologies are another huge aspect of how we will be able to provide a sufficient amount of food for our growing population. An innumerable amount of technologies have been engineered for specific needs that improve the quality of the food we eat, make farming more efficient, and increase the amount of yields we can produce. Robots and sensors have been designed to assist in harvesting our food and making sure it is in the best condition so that it isn’t wasted and we get the most out of what we grow. These devices are equipped with the abilities to measure size, growth rate, color, pigmentation, and quality so that when they are harvested they won’t be under or overripe and more can make it to the markets and eventually to our tables. Another area where technologies have helped is in getting rid of pests and diseases in our crops. One of the biggest contributors to lost crop yields is pests and diseases in them. We lose over 20-40% of our crop yields due to these problems but again, we have been able to find more effective solutions. Many different drones have been designed to detect and take care of these pests and diseases with more accuracy which drastically reduces the amount of herbicides and pesticides used. These drones use RGB, infrared, and visible light cameras to detect unhealthy crops and determine the problems. These drones also have the capability to target the right spots and use the precise amount of pesticides or herbicides needed. This makes it necessary to only use 0.1% of the amount of herbicides and pesticides used in conventional blanket sprays and is more effective than them too.

To make agriculture more sustainable we need to start implementing techniques that can conserve water, keep the soil healthy, and are better for the environment. Some of the different techniques already mentioned like using crop mulches, cover crops, and compost help to reduce the amount of water used and keep the soil healthy so we can continue to grow on it. Vertical farming, aeroponics, and hydroponics allow us to conserve 70-90% of the water we were using before and they don’t require soil at all. A new method we can try is soil mapping. This method can be effective because throughout the year when conditions are changing we can rotate the types of crops we plant in one specific area to fit the changing soil properties and water availability. Similar to this we can grow multiple crops together at the same time. Though this method is thought of as inefficient because it is easier to harvest a large amount of one crop, with robots and sensors being able to harvest these for us, it won’t be a problem.

Because of all the new ways we will be able to grow and produce crops in the future we will be able to rely more on them as the population grows. Genetic modifications to food and engineering will make crops more robust, have greater nutritional value, and give greater yields. If we rely more on these crops in the future we will also be able to gain more of the crop calories we are growing. Currently, the population only receives about 55% of the crop calories we grow directly and about 36% goes to livestock. When we eat these meats we don’t receive all of these crop calories back either. The highest amount we receive back is through milk where we receive back around 40% of crop calories and less and less through chickens, pork, and beef where we only receive back 3%. It is estimated that the world already produces enough crops to feed our world but because we feed livestock such a large amount of these crops, there’s not enough to feed people. When we switch to a more plant-based diet in the future, feeding the population will only become easier.

To be able to continue seeing these positive advancements and changes in agriculture we need to tell more people about agriculture’s importance. We can do this many ways in our daily lives. Just by talking about it to others and sharing what we know, we can encourage others to want to learn more about it and want to support it as well. We can read articles and find information online to learn more about agriculture or we can attend different events and support programs that support agriculture like SeeAg and FFA. Social media is another big place where we can share with others this importance and support others who are spreading awareness too.

One thing we as individuals can start doing to support agriculture and this need for more food in the future is reducing our food waste. 25% of the world’s food calories and 50% of food weight is lost before it can even be consumed. This is due to waste thrown out in homes, restaurants, and supermarkets, or unreliable storage and transportation. We can start to eat smaller portions of food and leftovers to make sure we don’t throw any away and we can promote the use of waste-reducing measures in restaurants, cafeterias, and supermarkets.

There is an innumerable amount of ways we can support our world in 2050 when our population reaches 10 billion. We already have our solutions and just need to implement them. When we start using these new techniques and technologies we will have enough food and fiber for everyone in our world. Though agriculture might be completely different than it is now, it will be more efficient, better for the environment, and sustainable as we enter into this new age.