Hi readers, welcome back to our two-part series on the global food system. In our previous newsletter on creating a more sustainable food system, we wrote about regenerative farming as a way to feed 10 billion people by 2050 while reducing carbon emissions. But how do we know if farming practices are truly regenerative to the planet and people? And what is the true cost of our food, if we take into account the externalities such as soil degradation and biodiversity loss?
On-farm Sustainability and Efficiency
Organizations such as the Sustainable Food Trust are working to develop an internationally recognized framework that enables farmers and land managers to measure, assess, and communicate on-farm sustainability through a common set of sustainability metrics.
And agriculture is getting smarter, with ag tech startups offering solutions to help farmers do more with less. AGTools, for instance, harnesses real-time data to enable farmers to maximize crop, increase profits, and reduce waste, while enhancing decision-making for retailers. Tulaa, with the aim of levelling the playing field for small-holder farmers in Africa, uses mobile technology and artificial intelligence to connect farmers, input suppliers, and buyers in a digital marketplace. Trace Genomics, meanwhile, uses soil science, genomics, and machine learning to help farmers detect diseases in soil and maximize productivity.
As the Netherlands has shown, the combination of technological innovation and political will can sustainably yield “twice as much food using half as many resources”.
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