The Future of Food: Transparency, Technology, Sustainability and Savvy Consumers
Image Credit: Rusty Clark on Flickr C.C. By 2.0
Foodies rejoice, the future of food looks incredibly bright. This becomes more probable, the more conscious we are of our choices in what we consume. There is concern and insecurity regarding our ability to feed our rapidly growing world population, which includes many already suffering due to hunger. In a previous blog post, we discussed the role of genetic modification in maintaining our current food supply. There is growing concern of the methods we use, including GMO's, pesticides, and non-sustainable farming practices. We are concerned of the effects on our bodies, on animals and the environment. However, perhaps we have all the necessary tools to solve these problems, as long as we step outside the box. That means, escape the current food supply prison, which we have created or allowed big companies to create for us, in the name of business. This is not only probable but necessary. We, as human beings, are in danger if we continue doing things the same way we have been doing them. Check out some food stats in this YouTube video from Complexity Labs below.
Yet we can liberate ourselves with modern systems, technologies and methodologies. Behold this new vision of the wonderful and sustainable future of food, which is inseparably linked to the advancement of our future selves.
Transparency in Food Sourcing
As technology improves, consumers will become more savvy in food choices. We will demand to know, where, when and how our food was produced. Companies such as Provenance, and technologies, such as blockchain, will allow us to determine this info within seconds. We will walk into a supermarket and scan a QR code, which will tell us where on earth the exact tomato was grown, whether it was grown in a sustainable fashion and organically produced, when it was plucked from the vine, where it was stored, and when it arrived at the supermarket. Imagine being able to do the same for eggs, fish and meat. We will choose the best quality food based on inside knowledge rather than relying on inaccurate labeling. Knowledge based demand will start to shift the balance of food towards higher quality.
Eliminating Food Waste
With better technologies, retail grocers and supermarkets will have even greater power to track their fresh food to estimate when it will start to decline, and determine with data analytics, when consumers are less likely to purchase food, and from which locations. They can begin to fine-tune their purchase allocations and choose quality over quantity, eliminating food waste. Many companies will take advantage of the still viable but less marketable food, and re-distribute for loss prevention. This already occurs to some extent, however, it will likely become more high level, as technology supports new and improved food distribution networks. The food may be donated through charitable organizations to local food banks, sold at a discounted price for immediate consumption, or funneled into a growing compost industry. The increased tracking of food will allow for greater food distribution and charities may take advantage of this for improved distribution leading to a better global food economy.
The Rise of Local Food Production
As newer farming technologies are developed, more locally produced food will be accessible. These new farming systems will include urban farming with membership-based container gardening companies such as Square Roots, indoor technology-based vertical farming solutions such as Bowery Farms, and aquaponics and eco-system based fish farming technologies. Additionally, disruptive start-up companies will make it easier for people to grow food at home with technologies such as Farm-Bot and Grove for direct consumption or distribution to local cooperatives.
People will begin to have a diversity of food sources beyond the local supermarket, and many of these will be locally grown, harvested and enjoyed. Food deserts in urban areas will start to decrease as more options become available. Quality organic compost becomes a commodity as more local farms seek ways to increase the quality, flavor and nutritional content of their foods in order to compete. Locally produced food will serve to supplement, and perhaps even surpass the standard food industry source. This will decrease the need to deplete natural resources with the ever increasing use of grassland for farming in the conventional method. These sources of food will also be protected against many of the harms of climate change, producing a more sustainable food supply chain.
Sustainable Farm Practices
Speaking of sustainability, the big agriculture industry won't be immune to the transformation of the food economy. There will be more research into and a shift into more natural, ecologically sound practices to maintain the food supply. The use of pesticides and genetic modification for pest control will decrease, perhaps replaced by methods such as planting flowers, automation, drones, and sensors to strategically limit water use and detect issues with crops and livestock accordingly. With consumers having the ability to determine the source and growing conditions of the food they purchase, the spotlight will be on farmers to increase organic, sustainable and humane practices in order to compete with smaller scale farms which continue these practices. This will have an impact on the environment, helping to restore bio-diversity and animals such as bees, which have been harmed by the current food industry practices.
The Death of Factory Farms
The increased transparency of meat sourcing, increased awareness of the litany of harms due to factory farms, along with the increased availability of alternative healthy and sustainable food sources will cause consumers to decline in purchasing meat from certain companies. People will turn away from eating animals which were raised in cramped, dirty, cruel conditions, with poor quality feed, contributing to antibiotic resistance and waste contamination leading to human disease, or harms to the environment. They will choose to become vegetarian, or vegan, or select sustainable meat sources. People will eat less meat overall, sourced from animals raised in clean, humane and sustainable conditions, on smaller farms, given high quality feed. Fish may also constitute a greater portion of our diet, along with other types of protein (some have proposed insects as a new protein source, however, it is dubious if this will catch on in Western countries). There is the emerging concept of lab grown meat as an alternative to our current system, however, it still has hurdles to overcome in humane treatment of animals (use of fetal bovine serum for cell culture) and sustainability in volume. Nonetheless, it is pretty well-defined that in order to save our environment and maintain a healthy food supply, factory farms have to play a diminished role in managing our food source.
So we can applaud the future of food, as we look forward to higher quality, better tasting, more humane, accessible and sustainable food. All we have to do is start scanning those labels and buying the food with the best provenance. Does this vision sound good to you? Kickstart it by supporting the companies which use progressive technology and sustainable solutions for agriculture. Let's make all food organic and wholesome.
Thanks for your interest! Check out our previous food-related blog post, and stay tuned for more posts on sustainability, science, technology, and medicine. Feel free to browse our website for more down-to-earth insights on futuristic technology, news and videos. Join the discussion, comment below and follow us on Twitter and Patreon.