By 2050, there's less arable farmland available. How do we react? Make the most of untapped marine resources, eat more seaweed, the food of the future? Become sea farmers or use aeroponics?
Importing/exporting such quantities of fruit and vegetables is illogical. How can we farm all year round, even in winter? Examples include rustic nuts, mushrooms or papayas, which are on the menu at the Jardin des Noix, with winter vegetable crops at Olistik Farm or glasshouse farming in the Netherlands.
By 2050, global oil reserves could be exhausted. At the Trotteuse farm, they see the future in a return to the past, with horses. The biodigester at Clovermead Farms offers almost complete energy self-sufficiency. And the eco-neighbourhood of Eva-Lanxmeer uses local farming in its green districts.
What solutions exist to avoid waste? Examples include the Loco Zéro Déchet grocery store in Montreal, the Spoiler Alert application in Boston, connecting networks of grocery shops and restaurants to redistribute the surplus instead of throwing it away and the Écosystème Alimentaire Urbain vertical urban farm.
Where can we find new farmland? In Boston, containers are being converted into farms. In Vancouver, Sole Food Street Farms transforms vacant plots into urban vegetable gardens. Les Jardins d'Inverness feed 200 families subscribing to their farm, using bio-intensive farming on a plot of just 0.8 hectares.
If we overcome our disgust and prejudices, brain, kidneys and veal penis can be enjoyed without taboo at the Lili.Co restaurant. In Ontario, Jakub Dzamba offers the chance to eat insects and even breed them at home. Human urine-based fertiliser offers an ecological way to recycle waste.
Are there alternative sources of protein? At the University of Maastricht, they've designed the first lab-produced steak derived from stem cells. Products can also be produced from vegetable proteins which are almost identical to chicken and beef. And what about Indonesian tempeh?
The bees are vanishing... At Kopperts, in the Netherlands, they provide glasshouse farmers with access to bumblebees to pollinate their fruit and vegetables. Anatis Bioprotection and Canopée have developed drones which scatter beneficial insects to control nuisance insect varieties rather than using pesticides.
The commercial, oil, agricultural or energy industries are polluting the ground, water and air. The Euglena algae from the young Adam Noble, the living wall biofilters from Nedlaw Living Walls and GenoRem's phytoremediation are all possible depollution, purification or decontamination solutions.
How do you manage without rainwater? By eating barbecued cactus, cactus with sauce or cactus chips. A cardboard box, the Growboxx, traps and contains moisture around trees. Finally, the Sahara Forest Project recovers sea water, uses solar energy and sites its farms in the desert.
The sun-bathed fields struggle to produce more without harming the environment. Blanc de Gris mushrooms grow without sunlight in Montreal. On the Gaspé peninsula, at 150 metres underwater, several marine species are fished sustainably. Finally, an artificial sun exists. Though miniscule, it's more efficient than the real one.
If an economic or food crisis occurred, how would we meet our requirements? Using highly-resistant ancient seed varieties, encouraging young citizens to become farmers and developing permaculture, an agricultural technique based on balanced, pesticide-free ecosystems are all viable solutions.
What if we were looking at a future in which farming and cooking were child's play? Spotlight on the Netherlands, where an automated dairy farm produces gouda, on the invention of a portable 3D food printer and on the bionanotechnologies, with nano-supplements and nano-foods.
