Necessity is the mother of all invention, as the saying goes. Solving the challenge of feeding the masses has plagued humanity for eons. Food production, dependent on water, proper nutrients, and sunlight (or at least UV light) is evolving to support smart growth in cities, rural communities, and new urban neighbourhoods.
The World Bank’s projections for global population growth is expected to reach 9.7 billion by 2050; with the majority of the population concentrated in major urban cities.
The food industry is developing new technologies to grow in limited spaces, with less resources, such as water. Indoor farms, or warehouses utilizing LED lighting, and growth techniques that aeroponically (plant root suspension techniques using spray nutrients and oxygen) produce fast green plants, arugula, kale, spinach, lettuce, etc., are increasing food production.
Whole Foods Foundation, Whole Planet is developing concepts and practices to bring urban and city populations together, providing micro financing to farmers; helping to solve the food crisis worldwide.
A new Penn State Study, published in February 2017 states; “ In the coming decades, agriculture will be called upon to both feed people and ensure a healthy environment,” said Hunter. “Right now, the narrative in agriculture is really out of balance, with compelling goals for food production but no clear sense of the progress we need to make on the environment. To get the agriculture we want in 2050, we need quantitative targets for both food production and environmental impacts.”
Read more at http://www.greenenergy.money/farm-table-models-grow-new-levels-urban-city-dwellers-get-sustainable/
