Vegetables from the factory, meat from the lab: high-tech and new Thinking to revolutionize agriculture. And could help feed the cities of tomorrow. About the Global Food Summit debate.
The Munich-based Startup, Agrilution thinks Urban Farming something different. No flower pot on the balcony. That would be Old School. Agrilution is salad and herbs in a two fächrigem cube grow. A Mini-Vertical Farm for the upscale kitchen. Temperature, irrigation and light are automatically controlled. “We simulate in the planning cube the whole year, the perfect spring,” says co-founder Patrick Proppe. After seven to 32 days, the green stuff can be harvested. Fresher and closer to the consumer. The planning cube is just a Gimmick. But Stephan Becker-Sonnenschein, Initiator of the Global Food summit in Munich, has joy in it. Disruptive agriculture is one of his favorite words. Agriculture think in a completely new. Away from the field, away from Land, away from the animal.
The nature a better understanding of
Is the earth so? “Quite the contrary”, says Becker-Sonnenschein, “the earth is full of wonders. The question is, are we ready to take advantage of the science of nature?” What is meant is Life Science. Scientists are always in a better position to understand, for example, metabolic processes. And this to build.
“I am just in the garden….” The planning cube in the kitchen.
The Dutchman, Peter the lapse rate is one of them. His company, Mosa, Meat breeds of beef in the laboratory. To be more precise: fibers said. 2013 was served in London home to the public the first meatball out of the Petri dish. For the Patty of bovine stem cells were taken and grown in a nutrient solution muscle fibers. Google founder Sergey Brin has supported the idea at that time with 250,000 euros. And how far is it today, five years later? “So fast you go not,” says the lapse rate in the case of a cream cuts, on the sidelines of the summit. At the earliest, in five years, he thinks of marketable products.
Meat without the animal
Research is called for. The fat doesn’t work. The color and Texture is crafted. But the interest is huge. Just recently, the Mosa Meat collected 7.5 million euros. The Main investors were large companies. The German pharmaceutical and chemical company Merck, for example, and the meat processor Bell, Food from Switzerland. A Patty for nine Euro is the medium-term objective. Around 30 companies worldwide, currently the race is on to meat without the animal. You come from the USA, Israel, Asia. The artificial fish is already tuned.
And all for what? “It would be Best, of course, one would simply eat less meat,” admits the lapse Council. “But I don’t reckon.”
Agriculture feeds the world. But they threatened you, too. Biodiversity, water consumption, and pesticides are just a few keywords. Particularly harmful to the environment if long transport routes. If animal feed is carted from South America to Europe. Or food from the country to the city.
In the year 2050 according to the UN forecast to be nine billion people on earth, the most in the city. 80 percent of the required food to be consumed in Mega-Cities. Can, and, above all, you should provide all of from the Land? With all the risks and losses, long logistics chains?
Urban Skyfarm: A project for the südkoereanische capital, Seoul
The Frauenhofer Institute has published in 2018 is an interesting study. The 3.6-square-enough to power a city of residents. A prerequisite of innovative cultivation methods, such as Aquaponics, the farming of fish in closed systems. Or Vertical Farming. As in the small cube, the Munich-based Startups Plans can be drawn leafy vegetables also in a big way on several levels. Under completely artificial, but to optimize conditions.Regardless of the floor. Regardless of the climate. There, where the food is needed. Indoor Farming takes a lot of energy. But up to 90 percent less water, less fertilizer, no pesticides.
Pigs in the high-rise
“In China, Urban Farming is a very big issue,” says Prof. Nannan Dong, Tongji University, Shanghai. “Not only in the inner cities. Especially in the sprawling suburbs will be empowered to be a part of your diet. Private firms make use of empty buildings for Indoor agriculture,” says the city planner. And when it comes to designing new settlements, would High integrated-Tech greenhouses often. Also pigs are kept on several floors in high-rise buildings. However, animal breeding is more of a topic for the edge of the city. “For the Recyclig of the manure, we have still not found a solution.”
The desert state of Dubai has been detected in case the advantages of the location-independent agriculture. “Today, we are completely dependent on food imports,” says the Minister for food safety, Mariam Al Mehairi. “As India has set due to the scarcity of its rice exports, was for us a shock.” Since Dubai is built in a large scale production on its own. Tomato greenhouses in the middle of the desert.
“Needs four litres of water for a kg instead of 200 liters in a free country,” says the Minister. The power for the cooling comes from solar panels on the roof. Fish also grow in closed loop systems. 240 million euros, are provided by Dubai now, in order to promote innovation in agriculture.
Not everything can be solved by new Thinking, says Summit-Initiator Becker-sunshine. But much toast. Wheat, Corn, rice, soy – all of this can only grow on real fields. How you can construct your own out of vegetable proteins in the connection, for example, meat, it needs to be the new, exciting ideas.