Earlier this week, a Silicon Valley investor wrote
an excellent article entitled “The Next Food Frontier: How AgTech Can Save the
World.” (See here.)
In it, he discussed some of the problems facing Big
Agriculture in America. For example, corn
farmers in Iowa are feeling the effects of increased costs for seeds, fertilizer and
herbicides. Environmental costs are also
growing, especially greenhouse gas emissions.
The solution, we’re told, lies in low cost sensors, improved
computational capabilities and advanced machine learning techniques. “The advancements,” the author wrote, “are
enabling farming to be run as efficiently as a Silicon Valley tech company—with
precision, data-driven decisions and automation.”
Some of you may have gulped hard thinking the standard of excellence
for efficiency is a “Silicon Valley tech company,” but we get the point. Efficiency can and should be improved on corn
farms in Iowa. Precision farming is one good solution.
Others problems the article noted are a decrease in yields, and improving options for more health conscious Americans. Solutions include genetically engineered microbes for improving seeds and
soil, computational biology, tissue engineering, and automation. From this we can create things like
biofabricated meats to replace traditional, often inefficient animal-based
proteins.
Again, all promising and cool ideas.
(Though when it comes to cutting into a big slab of biofabricated beef—you
first.)
“Technology is the answer,” the author concludes.