Written byย Marcus Parade onย Digilahย (Tech Thought Leadership)
๐๐๐ญย ๐ฎ๐ฌย ๐ข๐ฆ๐๐ ๐ข๐ง๐ย ๐ฐ๐ย have over 8 billion gorilla’s ๐ฆ๐ฆ living on our planet โ would you say we have an overpopulation of gorillas?
As I find overpopulation very visible on our planet, the question arises, how can we feed all our people more sustainable, if our population worldwide is estimated by the UNO to be around 10 billion by the year 2050?
๐๐๐๐จ๐ซ๐๐ฌ๐ญ๐๐ญ๐ข๐จ๐งย ๐๐จ๐ซย ๐๐จ๐จ๐:
๐ย ๐ฐ๐๐ฌย ๐ฐ๐๐ฅ๐ค๐ข๐ง๐ ย ๐ฐ๐ข๐ญ๐กย ๐ย dearย ๐๐ซ๐ข๐๐ง๐ย strolling through endless acres of golden cornfields stretching as far as the eye can seeย ๐ฝ๐ฝ
He said: “Oh Marcus, it feels so nice to be outside here in lovely nature?!”
I also love walking along golden cornfields and yet the fields feel to me only partly being in nature. Putting it baldly, we were also walking in simple production fields for farming products. We didn’t see animals nor insects.
๐ฒ๐ดย ๐๐๐๐จ๐ซ๐๐ฌ๐ญ๐๐ญ๐ข๐จ๐งย ๐ก๐๐ฌย ๐๐๐๐งย going on steadily since the last 10.000 years and an end is not in sight. The crazy race for more farmland, driven by climate change and an ever-growing population, is a ticking time bomb that is likely to trigger ecological collapse on a global scale.
1st. circle is from 10.000 years ago. 2nd. circle from 300 years ago. 3rd. circle from 5 years ago.
The question is, how do we feed all people, as further deforestation for more farmlands can in my opinion not be the solution.
In turn, around 1/3 of all food produced for human consumption in the world is lost or wasted every year. Where does it all go?
It is lost during production or wasted at the consumer level. At the same time around 10 % of our world population are starving.
๐๐ก๐๐ญย ๐๐๐งย ๐ฐ๐ย ๐๐จย ๐๐๐ญ๐ญ๐๐ซ?
We can change our consumer behaviour, as the production such as for meat needsย ๐๐๐๐๐๐๐๐ย amounts of more energy, water, space as well as emissions into our atmosphere. AND, less than only 20% of our worldwide farmlands are used for the direct consumption by us humans.
A staggering 80% of our planet’s farmland is devoted to livestock feed, biofuels, and other non-food crops, leaving precious little for direct human consumption.
๐๐ย ๐ง๐๐๐ย ๐๐๐ญ๐ญ๐๐ซย ๐๐๐๐ข๐๐ข๐๐ง๐๐ข๐๐ฌย ๐ข๐งย ๐จ๐ฎ๐ซย ๐๐จ๐จ๐ย ๐ฉ๐ซ๐จ๐๐ฎ๐๐ญ๐ข๐จ๐งย ๐๐ญย ๐๐ฅ๐ฅย ๐ฅ๐๐ฏ๐๐ฅ๐ฌ.
New agricultural technologies can be game changers such as:
1.๐ฆ๐งย More precise watering solutions directly reaching the roots
2.ย ๐๐ฐย Better efficient machines with more precision farming
3.ย ๐ฑโฃย Biotechnology with genetic modification of plants to protect them better and produce more.ย ๐๐งย ๐๐๐๐ข๐ญ๐ข๐จ๐งย bacteria can be created producing nutrients like proteins.
4.ย ๐ก๐ฒย Use of AI (artificial intelligence):
AI-poweredย ๐๐ซ๐จ๐ง๐๐ฌย ๐๐ง๐ย ๐ซ๐จ๐๐จ๐ญ๐ฌย ๐คย ๐๐๐งย ๐๐ย your farm’s new best friends – they collect real-time data on crop yields, plant health, and soil moisture levels. It’s like having a personal assistant who knows everything about your plants.
Self-driving tractorsย ๐ย and drones can be equipped withย ๐๐-๐ฉ๐จ๐ฐ๐๐ซ๐๐ย ๐ฌ๐๐ง๐ฌ๐จ๐ซ๐ฌย ๐ญ๐จย optimize crop planting, fertilizing, and harvesting. With their precision and efficiency, they can help reduce labour costs and increase productivity.
AI can be like the ultimateย ๐ฌ๐ฎ๐ฉ๐ฉ๐ฅ๐ฒย ๐๐ก๐๐ข๐งย ๐๐๐ญ๐๐๐ญ๐ข๐ฏ๐ย ๐ต. It can analyse all data from the very beginning up to table to help optimize logistics and reduce waste. It’s like having a personal assistant who knows everything about your plants and how they travel to us.
When it comes to crop monitoring, AI has aย ๐๐๐ ๐ฅ๐ย ๐๐ฒ๐ย ๐๐ย that even most farmers can’t beat.. AI peering deep into the heartย ๐ย of crops to detect even the slightest signs of disease or pests, empowering farmers to take proactive measures and safeguard their precious yields.
Around 70% of our freshwater is frozen, around 29% is groundwater and the rest is surface water. Source of chart: Netafim
๐๐ง๐ย ๐ฐ๐ข๐ฅ๐ฅย ๐ญ๐ก๐ข๐ฌย ๐๐ย ๐๐ง๐จ๐ฎ๐ ๐ก?
Improving the production of food on our planet Earthย ๐ย is a complex issue that involves various stakeholders including farmers, governments, researchers, and consumers.
While overpopulation remains one of our main challenges is the production of our food a central challenges for our common future of our climate and us humans.
Let’s embrace our future and change for better sustainability and life.ย ๐๐น๐
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