To Feed the Future, We Need a Feast of Facts and a Famine of Fear

Less than three decades from now, in 2041, the United Nations estimates that the population of the world will reach 9 billion people. That is a lot of mouths to feed, to put it mildly.

So how will we do it? How can a world of limited resources possibly adjust to the food and sustenance needs of its people when their numbers will expand by more than one quarter, and in such a relatively short period of time? How will we cope with what the U.N. Food and Agriculture Organization estimates will be a 60 percent increase in overall food demand?

The answer is the same as it has always been: technology. And with nearly 2 billion additional inhabitants of our planet to be added just one generation hence, that answer is more important, and the stakes are higher, than ever before.

At every step of the journey from farm to fork, technology is helping us produce a safe, abundant, sustainable and nutritious food supply. Precision agriculture, with the aid of GPS satellites, can target individual crop treatments down to the smallest plots of soil, which reduces environmental impacts. Advances in livestock production, from climate control to the nutritional qualities of feed, have improved animal health and welfare and boosted agricultural output. Refrigeration and modern packaging technologies increase the safety of our food, the distance across which it can be transported, and its extended freshness.

Among the most successful and still more promising advances is food biotechnology, which is a range of processes to enhance foods through various breeding and other techniques. At its heart, food biotechnology is the science of employing the tools of modern genetics to enhance beneficial traits of plants, animals, and their food components.

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The Ag Innovation Showcase, an event where Ag capital providers and corporate strategics connect, realizes cutting-edge ag start-ups and research projects with technology solutions will be key to solving the most pressing problems facing the industry today. The premier event, in St. Louis from Sept. 9-11 will take a closer look at promising solutions, including biological solutions in agriculture and food production.

The below group of companies will showcase innovations in biotechnology and advances in analytical sciences to resolve a range of problems and concerns in agriculture and food production. They cover impressive ground, increasing photosynthetic efficiency and yield, improving soil and crop health, enhancing stress resistance and converting inherent properties into novel formulations to tackle disease.

Benson Hill Biosystems, Inc.

California Safe Soil, LLC

Green & Grow, Inc.

MPT Mustard Products & Technologies, Inc.

The Showcase promotes strategic partnering opportunities, deal-flow and influential dialog around new industry ideas and trends over 3 days of networking, engaging panel discussions, distinguished keynote speakers and presentations.

Be sure to register for the Ag Innovation Showcase at BRDG Park September 9-11.

For more information about the Ag Showcase, please visit their website.

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