Sustainable Food Production
- Nicole Haragutchi
- Oct 5
- 5 min read
The Food
Food today is produced using technologies that are not sustainable. This document details new methods of producing food which can avoid all the problems we are seeing as a result of scaling the traditional methods to the needs of our modern world.
The results are catastrophic. We need to start migrating to a more sustainable solution that will benefit our environment.
To better describe the new methods and technologies, we are going to divide our food in the following areas:
Vegetables
Proteins (milk, eggs, and meat)
Seafood
Vegetables
Importance for human health:
Vegetables are important for human health because of their vitamins, minerals, phytochemical compounds, and dietary fiber content.
Increased yields:
Fertilizers and pesticides have increased the yields of vegetable crops.
Rotational monoculture has increased the yields of vegetable crops.
Environmental problems:
Chemical products runoffs are polluting rivers and oceans
Water waste is depleting the available water resources
Monoculture in vast land is reducing the biodiversity of the local environment.
Problems that are reducing the yields:
Global warming is reducing the yields of the vegetable crops
Drought and extreme storms are reducing the yields of the vegetable crops
A new way:
The integration of modern food production methods such as aquaponics, hydroponics, aeroponics, microgreens, and sprouting with green technologies such as solar power and water collection through solid-state condensers enables us to create an innovative and sustainable way of producing vegetables.
The images below show some of the prototypes we have created. These images are from real prototypes that were successfully implemented to verify the benefits described above.
Effects on Climate Change:
The methods described above:
Uses only 20% of the water required in normal agriculture today
Eliminate chemical product runoffs since the water is a closed cycle
Reduces carbon dioxide emissions due to transportation since they can be produced closer to the consumers and in smaller areas
Uses renewable energy and water capture from the air
Potential environmental problems:
The solution proposed requires new technology and better control on the environment where the food is being produced. If this environment is not better controlled, it may result in additional chemical runoffs. It is important to always update and develop new resources which will require additional investment, which include:
Automation
Monitoring
Sustainability:
As described above, the new methods of food production alone cannot make the whole system sustainable. It is very important to consider all areas shows above such as:
Water collection system from the air
Energy collection from solar and wind power systems
This solution also protects the environment and biodiversity of our planet.
Environmental wellness:
The innovations presented here provide:
Less stress on natural resources such as water
Less use of land space since they are scalable to any size
Higher yields since they can grow vertically and not only horizontally
Use renewable energy
Reduce the greenhouse gas emissions
Proteins
Importance for human health:
Protein is essential for building and repairing tissues, and it helps maintain a healthy immune system.
Increased yields:
Large animal farms
Processing factories
Problems that are reducing the yields:
Animal cruelty
Resource limitations such as water and food for animals
Environmental problems:
Greenhouse gas emissions, especially methane
Deforestation to make way for pastures and farms
Reduction of the biodiversity of our planet, especially in rainforests
A new way:
A new technology called precision fermentation has the potential of eliminating completely the animal on the production of proteins for human consumption. This technology uses special bioreactors with a very controlled environment which houses bacteria or yeast genetically programmed to convert a basic carbohydrate solution into milk, egg or meat. In the case of meat, we can use additional technology such as 3D printing to print beef. Milk and egg is made available in its liquid form.
These technologies are very complex and include genetic manipulations which cannot be done on a home environment, so we do not have a working prototype.
Effects on Climate Change:
The methods described above:
Eliminate animal cruelty
Eliminate methane gas emissions
Reduce substantially deforestation
Reduce substantially the loss of biodiversity’
produced closer to the consumers and in smaller areas
Uses renewable energy and water capture from the air
Potential environmental problem:
The solution proposed requires new technology and better control on the environment where the food is being produced. If this environment is not better controlled, it may result in additional chemical runoffs. It is important to always update and develop new resources requiring additional investment which include:
Automation
Monitoring
Sustainability:
As described above, the new methods of food production alone cannot make the whole system sustainable. It is very important to consider all areas shows above such as:
Water collection system from the air and solar and wind power systems
This solution also protects the environment and biodiversity of our planet.
Environmental wellness:
The innovations presented here provide:
Less stress on natural resources such as water
Less use of land space since they are scalable to any size
Higher yields since they require smaller spaces
Use renewable energy
Reduce the greenhouse gas emissions
Seafood
Importance for human health:
Seafood is crucial for human health as it is a rich source of high-quality protein and essential nutrients, especially omega-3 fatty acids, which are vital for heart, brain, and eye health, and are linked to reduced risk of certain chronic diseases.
Increased yields:
Large fishing ships
Sonar and other technologies used to find the species
Problems that are reducing the yields:
Indiscriminate fishing
Pollution and change in ocean water temperature
Environmental problems:
Large scale fishing is reducing the numbers of certain species
Consequently, we are reducing biodiversity by altering the food chain
Ocean littering due to fishing equipment being indiscriminately through away in the oceans
A new way:
The creation of seafood farms is an important step towards a sustainable food production. It is important to consider the creation of natural ecosystems on these farms without overpopulation or inclusion of chemicals. An example is the creation of a seafood farm that will have a complete food chain. For example, we would have phytoplankton in the bottom of the food chain feeding salps which are gelatinous creatures that quickly multiply when phytoplankton is abundant. The salps have very dense fecal pellets that sink to the bottom very fast. Paired to the phytoplankton, they are a very efficient carbon sequestration engine. Adding oysters, mussels, crab and shrimp which will also filter the water and bottom feeders such as shrimp that will ingest not only the phytoplankton but also the excrements from oysters and other speci will enable us to have carbon sequestration and food production at the same time.
Towards this goal we have experimented, in an initial phase, the creation of phytoplankton cultures to be used as the food chain basis as shown below. All photos are related to real prototypes created in our experiments.
In addition, we created a refrigeration unit to create an environment where phytoplankton could be cultivated and where oysters and shrimp could have their initial growth prior to their release in the ocean farm space. This refrigeration system is based on a solid-state refrigeration using Peltier devices.
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