Canadian scientists are working on the problem from all angles. Farmers Edge<\/a>, a Winnipeg-based company, sells a data platform that\u2019s designed to help farmers optimize their operations and increase their harvests. Others, like Toronto-based Vive Crop Protection,<\/a> are using nanotechnology to improve crop quality and yields through precisely formulated fertilizers and pesticides. Meanwhile, vertical farms<\/a> are sprouting up across the country.<\/p>\n So, will technology come to the rescue again? Or do we need to rethink more than just how we grow crops? At the recent MaRS Climate Impact conference, three experts in clean technologies pondered these questions. Here are their takes.<\/p>\n<\/p>\n Jane Kearns, partner at cleantech venture capital firm Evok Innovations:<\/em><\/p>\n <\/span><\/p>\n \u201cAs we have scaled our ability to feed the population, we have inadvertently created an unsustainable food system that is destroying our environment and our health. Since the 1960s, we have been converting land from natural habitats that absorb carbon and filter water to agricultural uses. We have cleared forests for livestock and crops, and because of that we are losing biodiversity at an unprecedented rate. We grow massive amounts of one crop in the same place, creating a huge risk of pests going through the lot. And we have lost a ton of our topsoil, so nutrient density is diminishing. <\/p>\n \u201cI don\u2019t think there\u2019s a technical solution. We need to think about how much meat we are eating, and we need to dramatically reduce the amount of land we use. And we need to think hard about regenerative agriculture<\/a> (farming techniques that attempt to reverse soil depletion). That is a more local and sustainable form of agriculture. <\/p>\n \u201cHow do we go back to these practices that are so smart and sustainable and create a biological cycle? The year 2050 sounds like a long way off, but it is 28 planting and harvesting cycles. That\u2019s not a lot of time to make a monster amount of change.\u201d<\/p>\n<\/p>\n Phil De Luna, sustainability expert at McKinsey & Co.:<\/em><\/p>\n \u201cWhen we come up against these existential problems, technical solutions can happen. At the turn of the 20th century, the world was running out of fertilizer because you had to get it from natural sources like bird droppings. The United States had wars with Spain over access to Pacific islands with bird droppings. Then the Haber-Bosch process<\/a> was invented, which takes hydrogen and nitrogen to make ammonia for fertilizer. Now, I\u2019m really excited about electro ammonia \u2014 it\u2019s a way to make ammonia using electricity, sunlight, water and air.<\/p>\n \u201cCan we feed ten billion people? Yes. But I think it\u2019s going to require some sacrifice or massive technological advancement in vertical farming or synthetic meat or whatever (and then who\u2019s going to pay for that?). Ultimately, though, we Westerners have a level of exuberance in what we eat that is really unfair. The world could support a lot more people who are living off much less energy-intensive crops.\u201d<\/p>\n We mustn\u2019t turn farmland into an overdeveloped hellscape<\/strong><\/p>\n Marcius Extavour, chief scientist at XPRIZE:<\/em><\/p>\n \u201cWe will be able to feed ten billion. Look at California\u2019s Central Valley, which grows a ton of food. If you drive up the highway you see avocado and almond plantations in what appears to be a desert. And somehow we\u2019ve engineered our food system to make a lot of beef because that\u2019s what we wanted.<\/p>\n \u201cSo there\u2019s no doubt in my mind that we can do it this way, but should we? No, we shouldn\u2019t. I\u2019m not interested in living in some technologically overdeveloped hellscape like the opening scene from the latest \u2018Blade Runner.\u2019<\/p>\n \u201cOne of my favourite expressions is \u2018The future is already here, it\u2019s just unevenly distributed.\u2019 We usually interpret that as meaning we who live in this privileged part of the world have all the good stuff, like fancy phones and TVs, and other people don\u2019t. But when it comes to agriculture, there are many other sustainable food and agriculture practices that other so-called less-developed communities are using right now. There are ways for us to look at those and integrate them. That\u2019s not going backwards. It\u2019s remembering and remixing things that we used to know how to do in a new way.<\/p>\n \u201cWhat technology could make a difference? I tasted cultured meat \u2014 lab-grown meat \u2014 recently. It was chicken made in a bioreactor. In my mind I thought it was gross, but it looked and tasted like chicken. It was weird, but it is a frontier in the food system that is coming.\u201d<\/p>\n <\/span><\/p>\n Text has been condensed and edited for clarity.<\/em><\/p>\nWe need to get back to sustainable practices<\/strong><\/h2>\n
![\"Jane](\"https:\/\/images.thestar.com\/4Av4TiE4Hg3o3_XFUDkawsQareQ=\/650x650\/smart\/filters:cb(1676664376218):format(webp)\/https:\/\/www.thestar.com\/content\/dam\/thestar\/business\/mars\/2023\/02\/17\/feeding-a-hungry-planet-are-lab-grown-meat-and-new-fertilizers-the-answer\/kearns.jpg\")
<\/div>\n<\/div>\nIt\u2019ll take massive tech advancement \u2014 or less exuberant lifestyles<\/strong><\/h2>\n
![\"Phil](\"https:\/\/images.thestar.com\/92akN6YCh0ZZhJ3NnYKw8YtKxxM=\/650x650\/smart\/filters:cb(1676664376402):format(webp)\/https:\/\/www.thestar.com\/content\/dam\/thestar\/business\/mars\/2023\/02\/17\/feeding-a-hungry-planet-are-lab-grown-meat-and-new-fertilizers-the-answer\/phil_de_luna.jpg\")
<\/div>\n<\/div>\n![\"Marcius](\"https:\/\/images.thestar.com\/aW8SWMFd041PgbMnkJc4xiXlrP8=\/850x753\/smart\/filters:cb(1676664376310):format(webp)\/https:\/\/www.thestar.com\/content\/dam\/thestar\/business\/mars\/2023\/02\/17\/feeding-a-hungry-planet-are-lab-grown-meat-and-new-fertilizers-the-answer\/marcius_extavour.jpg\")
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