High Tech Harvest

 

 

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How to grow more mussels

With an abundance of produce and meat in our markets, Americans may consider a cheap, reliable food supply to be a challenge only for developing countries. But a changing climate and booming population will stretch the resources of even the most tech-savvy nations. In the U.S., extreme Western droughts and Midwestern floods test the resilience of our agricultural systems. Engineers have long provided ways to raise agricultural production and efficiency, harkening back to the plow and irrigation systems. They continue that work today. The potential payoff: a high-tech harvest of new tools and understanding of increasingly complex agricultural systems.

Credit: NSF

Reinventing grandpa's farm

Engineering has cultivated agricultural evolution for centuries, with tractors and milking machines making farming less backbreaking, and with pesticides and genetically modified plants making farming more productive. The next tech revolution may allow farmers to electronically tend their fields. Sensors will alert farmers when plants are thirsty and autonomously detect and capture salmonella and other pathogens, eliminating contamination before that tomato lands on your plate. Assisted by computer vision and robotics, farmers can precision-thin and treat lettuce and corn for maximum yield.

Credit: Blue River Technology

Future food

The word's population is expected to exceed 10 billion by 2100. As demand for food, water and energy grows, agriculture will need to become more efficient and productive. Innovative engineers are finding sustainable solutions in agricultural materials, from waste wood to fungi. They are even finding ways to restore lands damaged by industrial waste to support agriculture and bioenergy crops. Researchers are sustainably harvesting marine life, getting help from robots, and, as perhaps the ultimate in low-water, low-energy food production, are growing beef through tissue engineering, with nary a cow in sight.

Credit: Tom Campbell, Purdue Agricultural Communication

Defending against disaster

Increasingly harsh environmental conditions create an enormous need for technologies that support resilient agricultural systems. Drought and pollution are among the nation's greatest challenges. Often, it seems, the antidote lies within nature itself. The flesh of the prickly pear cactus is an effective, inexpensive way to clean water, while reprogramed microbes can destroy contaminates in water and soil. New methods to detect trace pollutants offer means to keep water sources safe. Engineers are using computational models to study food systems and make distribution more flexible, from farms to food banks.

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Engineering agriculture's future

What if emerging technologies for agriculture were put into practice?

Related Websites:
Drought.gov offers weekly maps and reports on U.S. drought conditions and on crop and soil moisture levels.

Any opinions, findings, conclusions or recommendations presented in this material are only those of the presenter grantee/researcher, author, or agency employee; and do not necessarily reflect the views of the National Science Foundation.