The 4th Agricultural Revolution: 5 Technologies Shaping The Future Of Food And Agritech

• Published date: 12 June 2023
• Subject Matter: Food, Drugs, Healthcare, Life Sciences, Real Estate and Construction, Technology, Food and Drugs Law, Land Law & Agriculture, New Technology
• Law Firm: Potter Clarkson
• Author: Andrew Tindall

Recent advances in automation, machine learning, and cleantech have heralded the "4^th industrial revolution". This promises to not only rapidly change how we live and work, but also transform it beyond recognition.

Historically, industrial revolutions have gone hand-in-hand with agriculture and this is still true today, with the global population projected to exceed 10 billion by the end of the century. This level of demand places significant demands on our food system. It also threatens to halt industrial progress before it can begin.

However, as in so many cases, innovation has the power to trample these potential hurdles. Here are five emergent technologies that promise to address these challenges and transform the food system:

1. PRECISION AGRICULTURE

The same techniques that are set to transform industrial production can also be applied to agriculture.

AI and machine learning can transform pest, water, and livestock management, whilst GPS-guided tractors, drones, and robotics promise to automate farming. Interestingly, increased use of network-guided methods allows the gathering of valuable implementation data, which in turn can be used to drive further improvements. In the farms of the future, harvesting data may be as important as harvesting crops, and it remains to be seen who owns and has the right to use it.

2. CULTIVATED MEAT

Demand for meat is set to rise by 70% by 2050. As animal agriculture already occupies 26% of the earth's land and consumes the produce of a third of its croplands as feed, it is clear this demand cannot be met through conventional methods.

"Cultivated meat" offers an alternative. By growing cells in culture, meat can be produced without wasting energy on growing inedible parts of the animal. Already, production costs are falling dramatically, and the dawn of cultivated meat may have already broken with Upside Foods and GOOD Meat reaching early regulatory milestones in the US.

The race to be the first to supermarket shelves is very much underway as ambitious early movers muscle their way into this crowded field.

3. PRECISION FERMENTATION

Microbial fermentation has been part of the way we eat since the advent of baking and brewing. Building on this history is precision fermentation, whereby scientists genetically engineer yeasts and bacteria to produce specific molecular products.

Already used to make...