Food-tech is here to feed the world without devouring it

Mint

a day ago

Picture this: 295 million people face severe hunger right now. Meanwhile, traditional farming consumes 70% of global freshwater, emits 11 billion tonnes of carbon dioxide annually and is responsible for 90% of deforestation worldwide. Every year, we lose about 12 million hectares, roughly the size of Greece, to drought and erosion. With an expected 10 billion mouths to feed by 2050, the current food supply trajectory simply isn't sustainable.
But there is hope.
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Technology breakthroughs in food production are now a science fiction writer's envy. Remember 2013's $330,000 lab-grown burger? Today, cultivated meat pioneers like Upside Foods have slashed costs to about $20 (under lab conditions), a staggering reduction. Singapore became the first country to approve cultivated chicken commercially in 2020, followed by the US in 2023.
Yet, production remains minuscule. Eat Just's pilot facility currently produces only about 3kg of lab-grown chicken per week, compared to 4,000-5,000kg at a regular shop. Although meaningful scale is years away, cultivated meat's environmental potential is compelling: studies on beef show it could cut emissions and land use by up to 90% and reduce water use by around 80% compared to conventional beef (in a best-case scenario, assuming the use of renewable energy).
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While lab-grown meat captivates imaginations, plant-based alternatives have already reshaped supermarket shelves. The global plant-based meat market, led by brands like Beyond Meat and Impossible Foods, reached $16 billion in 2024 and is projected to reach $100 billion by 2033. These alternatives currently cost around 77% more than animal meat. Yet, the environmental benefits are undeniable. For example, pea protein emits just 0.4kg of carbon dioxide per 100g protein compared to beef's staggering 35kg.
Israel's Redefine Meat pushes the envelope, using advanced 3D printing to create plant-based steaks realistic enough to impress Michelin-starred chefs across Europe. India's Blue Tribe Foods creates carbon-neutral, plant-based meats, highlighting the global nature of this wave.
But why only mimic meat when we can completely rethink protein production? Enter precision fermentation. Companies like Perfect Day craft dairy proteins without cows, using genetically engineered micro-organisms, slashing water use by 99% and greenhouse gas emissions by 97%. Nature's Fynd has gone further, creating nutritious proteins from microbes; its products are now stocked across hundreds of stores.
And molecular farming transforms plants themselves into factories, producing everything from life-saving vaccines to spider silk proteins inside spinach leaves.
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NASA-inspired technology is also revolutionizing protein production. Here, Solar Foods' Solein wins for sheer audacity. It makes protein 'from thin air" using carbon dioxide, water and renewable electricity. Its first commercial facility, which opened in April 2024, expects to produce protein with far greater efficiency than traditional farms.
Air Protein uses bacteria first developed for astronauts to produce protein potentially 10,000 times more efficiently per land area than soyabeans. Similarly, spirulina algae—another NASA astronaut staple—produces protein at 50 times the rate of soyabeans, actively absorbing carbon dioxide in the process.
Finally, biofortification is engineering crops to tackle global nutritional deficiencies directly. Golden Rice, engineered with beta-carotene to prevent blindness, has finally reached farmers after decades-long development. In Rwanda, iron-rich beans have increased dietary iron intake by 11% within two years. Zinc-enhanced wheat now spans 1.8 million hectares in India, addressing a 'hidden hunger' that silently affects billions worldwide.
Food-tech innovations hint at greater possibilities. For instance, Japan's plans for space-based solar power could potentially revolutionize agriculture by enabling farming in deserts, underground chambers or even Mars.
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Investment trends tell their own story. After a sharp decline following a peak of $51.7 billion in 2021, food-tech funding rebounded in the first half of 2024. If scaled effectively, these innovations could slash agricultural emissions by about 80%, potentially freeing land twice the combined area of China and India.
Our food system is undergoing an extraordinary transformation—proteins from thin air, 3D-printed steaks, astronaut-tested algae and nutrient-rich biofortified crops. While these ideas might seem 'moonshotish' today, remember that smartphones were pure science fiction not long ago. The technology exists, the environmental benefits are clear, and the path forward is illuminated by science and imagination.
We humans are ready to 'cook up' a food system that nourishes the world and proves Thomas Malthus's dismal outlook wrong again—without devouring the planet in the process.
The author is a technology advisor and podcast host.