How 3D Printing, Vertical Farming, and Materials Science Are Overhauling Food

Singularity Hub ^ | October 20, 2019 | Peter H. Diamandis, MD

[2ndDivisionVet]

Food. What we eat, and how we grow it, will be fundamentally transformed in the next decade.

Already, indoor farming is projected to be a US$40.25 billion industry by 2022, with a compound annual growth rate of 9.65 percent. Meanwhile, the food 3D printing industry is expected to grow at an even higher rate, averaging 50 percent annual growth.

And converging exponential technologies—from materials science to AI-driven digital agriculture—are not slowing down. Today’s breakthroughs will soon allow our planet to boost its food production by nearly 70 percent, using a fraction of the real estate and resources, to feed 9 billion by mid-century.

What you consume, how it was grown, and how it will end up in your stomach will all ride the wave of converging exponentials, revolutionizing the most basic of human needs.

[2ndDivisionVet]

The future is mysterious.

[ClearCase_guy]

It may all turn out to be like Fusion power — It’s just 25 years away!!

But I’m actually pretty optimistic about this stuff.

[marktwain]

Food requires energy to grow.

The energy comes from the sun.

Large amounts of food cannot be grown, vertically stacked, indoors, without large amounts of energy.

We have no means of producing 10x the current production of energy which would be needed to produce half the food that is now produced by traditional agriculture, indoors.

Not impossible, but a significant obstacle.

[Jamestown1630]

I’ve been thinking for a long time that population growth would eventually require big changes in how we do ‘food’; best to get started early.

[Reeses]

City slicker 'rats are starting to worry about their deplorable sourced food. They also need to worry about their water, electricity, fuel, military protection, air conditioning, elevators, and toilets that don't work. Before they force their climate religion on the American heartland they need to consider who they are messing with.

[fproy2222]

“Redefine Meat, an Israeli startup, wants to tackle industrial meat production using 3D printers that can generate meat,...”

I love Spam. Now I can have it maxe into ant shape I want.

Little Spam dinosaurs for the grandkids.

[Thermalseeker]

Depends on the crop. For incidence, I operate a commercial mushroom farm. There isn’t a “low tech” mushroom farming method that can begin to compete with my output using climate controlled spaces. I regularly produce 200 lbs of fresh mushrooms every week from a 16’x16’ space (one of five). The reason is because I give the fungus exactly what it wants to thrive. There are no droughts, no floods, and no bugs. No hot days, no cold days, everything is just right, always.

[Rockingham]

Gluten and lectins are likely to be early targets for elimination via genetic engineering and selective breeding, with the resulting plants then raised indoors. For susceptible individuals, that would offer major advances in diet and nutrition.

[bgill]

Some people are trying to sustain themselves on just sunlight. I’m not seeing much of a future from that.

[marktwain]

Mushrooms get their energy from their fertilizer, which gets it from the sun or fossil fuels.

Please correct me if wrong.

[marktwain]

Fascinating.

[GraceG]

You can capture all wavelength of light from solar panels on roof and feed the plants only the waves via tuned LED panels, thus increasing effeciency.

So all those wasted waves get converted via electrical system to only the ones they use.