By 2050, world population will add 2.5 billion ( equivalent to the current population of China and India combined ) , how can we feed so many people ? The United Nations estimates , we need to double the current food production to meet demand ; governments have claimed , it should adopt new technologies and avoid waste. Nevertheless saving the world chronically hungry people has reached 1 billion ; uncultivated land are few ; climate change has increased the difficulty of agricultural production in many areas ; marine over fishing ; intensified water shortages in many parts of the world .
Fifty years ago, when the world population is only about half the time now , mankind had hoped to use the so-called "green revolution" to prevent the looming food crisis. Hybrid seeds and fertilizer usage soared achieved some results, but humans have paid a heavy ecological cost . Compared with their parents , our food production nearly doubled , but the surface and groundwater consumption has tripled .
Food , agriculture and water conservancy and other technical experts must find new ways to let the past be difficult or impossible to place the development of agriculture become our breadbasket . Perhaps we need to rethink how to use the land and water resources. Whole new generation of sophisticated farmers, exotic food and wonderful ideas have emerged .
Alga
How can a significant reduction in the use of arable land under the premise can produce more food to feed humans ? To do this is actually very simple - if we will turn to the commercialization of energy algae farming . Algae is a single- celled organisms , the structure is not complicated, in the ocean , sewage and other food crops can not survive in an environment fast growth and reproduction. Many large airlines and shipping groups are studying the possibility of using algae oil , savvy investors are more clean energy is pouring money into this technology is still in its early stages of development among .
High return on algae farming : According to scientists estimated that under ideal conditions, commercial algae farming per acre ( about 4050 m2 ) can produce 5000-10000 gallons ( about 22,730 to 45,460 liters ) algae oil ; And compared to the , using corn and other food crops to produce bio ethanol production is only 350 gallons per acre ( about 1590 liters ) . In addition , algae can also be used as animal feed and fertilizer. Algae oil to replace the U.S. market with a full bioethanol needs to occupy about two hundred acres ( more than 8000 square kilometers ) desert , but as Arizona State University professor Mark Edwards said, this also means that will free up 40 million acres ( about 162,000 square kilometers ) of farmland and several million gallons per year of irrigation water used for human food production .
While at the bottom of the food chain , but kelp and other algae, Japan and China has always been on the table delicacies , and have been used as fertilizers , soil conditioners and animal feed. Edwards said: "The large algae such as seaweed, kelp , only a small microscope to observe ; they can fix atmospheric carbon dioxide and providing fats , oils and sugar . Nature either shrimp or blue whales are to them as food. algae are the basis of all life , but also the future of humanity depend . "
Artificial Meat
This thing looks like meat, feels like meat is meat indeed , but not from the live animals pant children take down . On the contrary, the use of stem cells is artificial meat in a large container " artificial culture " out.
Scientists believe that looking for meat alternatives is very important. Because in China and other fast -growing emerging economies , people's eating habits to move closer towards the west , which the government had to deforestation and farmers to develop new farm. There are nearly a quarter of the arable land used for cattle , and another quarter for growing animal feed. In the U.S., total cereal production of livestock feed in the proportion has reached almost seven .
Currently, most of the artificial meat research are conducted in Europe , where Dutch and British scientists have succeeded in the laboratory using stem cells cultured edible organizational structure. But while the first artificial hamburger meat made from next year it is expected to come out, but it may be disappointing taste . The color and taste of meat were from blood and fat. While researchers have identified can make blood and adipose stem cells , but really made of artificial blood and fat is still a long , complex and expensive task .
Even so, studies have shown that artificial meat in environmental benefits unmatched by ordinary meat , its production process needed water, energy and land are less. In addition, large-scale breeding farms as well as the use of growth hormones and antibiotics have been suffering from doubt when, artificial meat but almost does not involve any moral controversy.
New crops
Few people have heard of LI Zhi-Kang this name, but the Chinese plant breeders in this century is likely to be as one of the most important figures in the annals of history forever . In the Chinese Academy of Agricultural Sciences and the International Rice Research Institute in the Philippines for 12 years, LI Zhi-Kang and his research team last year, developed a "green super rice ." Proven , this series of rice not only higher yields and are more drought, waterlogging, salinity and also more resistant to pests and disease .
LI Zhi-Kang do not use GM technology , but from the 16 countries with hundreds of Institutes and farmers cooperative , complete with traditional breeding techniques will be more than 250 rice hybrids optimal selection .
This can greatly increase food production in Asia , mostly to feed 100 million people within a few years green super rice officially on the market soon . But for other crops , better plant breeding - whether or not the use of GM technology - will also be the key to increasing yields .
However, in the past 20 years , most of the research funds are used in transgenic technology. Agrochemical industry promised by their modified crops is not only rich in vitamins , enzymes or healthy fatty acids, and has good drought tolerance , reduce carbon emissions. While we expect to see a banana can produce human vaccines , maturity shorter disease resistance in fish and has a cow, but the " feed the world " commitment is still far from being achieved .
Last year , the global transgenic crop area more than 350 million acres ( $ 1.4 million square kilometers ) - accounted for approximately 10% of world's arable land , Germany, France , the total land area of the United Kingdom ; But corn, canola and soybeans occupy them most , while the output of these three crops are mostly used as animal feed.
Desert Greening
The world has suffered a lot of areas affected by drought , the only source of water is close to the ocean . Can we develop a technology that allows Chile , California , Peru and the Middle East such as the use of sea water to achieve greening coastal desert it ?
English inventor Charles Payton has such an idea: use the vast " seawater greenhouses " grain electricity. His plan is simple: the water cycle in nature , seawater heated by the sun evaporates , cooling to form clouds , and then returned to the surface in the form of rain . Payton's designed to take a similar structure. Here, the hot desert air into the greenhouse after the first cooling , humidification and then by sea . Humid air in the greenhouse crops moisture after the device through an evaporator . When faced with an assembly of cold seawater cooling , the water vapor in the air condenses into fresh water, collected by the staff uniform . Using this method of production of fresh water is five times the greenhouse crop water requirements , so you can be part of the greenhouse locally produced fresh water for irrigation of other crops .
Seawater Greenhouse has been proven to be effective, and this year there will be a large scale by the Norwegian government-backed pilot project launched near Aqaba in Jordan . " The Sahara Forest Programme " utilization of different technologies to grow food and bio- energy crops , began operations in 2015 .
In addition, there are many new technologies being developed that will allow humanity to grow food in extreme environments . Perhaps one of the most simple yet most ambitious project is the long-planned " African Green Great Wall" was planned . This piece of long strips of forest 15 kilometers wide , 7,775 km long , stretching from Senegal in West Africa to East Africa Djibouti . Participating in the program in 11 African countries , "said Green Great Wall" will help to prevent the southward expansion of the Sahara desert , slowing soil degradation, reducing the wind speed , and promote rainwater infiltration , and create suitable for the cultivation of fruits, vegetables and other crops micro climate .
Insect
Most restaurants in Europe or the United States on the menu , like locusts, grasshoppers , spiders , wasps, worms, ants and beetles such a thing is rare ; But in Africa , Latin America and Asia , many people eat insects 1400 kinds . With food prices rising and the world-wide shortage of land , the United Kingdom and other established edible insect farm day is not far away .
The advantage lies not only in cultured insect insects is a high protein , low fat, low cholesterol , high calcium foods high iron , but also because insect farm small footprint . From an environmental perspective, traditional farms and it also can not be compared . Insects will be transformed into edible succulent plants faster than the shortest livestock development cycle even faster ; they release less greenhouse gases ; whether the paper feed them , algae or industrial waste, they can thrive.
Has been actively seeking to promote large-scale farming of edible insects United Nations and the European Union are very respected this " mini- livestock " all the advantages . The Dutch government is studying how to create insect farms. But for Westerners neurotic care , they asked the researchers to see whether individual insect protein extracts .
Meanwhile, the EU member states to provide three million euros to its funds to promote the use of insects in the restaurant and asked the Food Standards regulators, the possibility of insects as a dietary supplement .
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