Since the turn of the last century, Earth has experienced a substantial demographic explosion — and the number of people on the planet is only increasing.
This rise in the number of the world’s inhabitants is raising a lot of concerns about economics, resources like food and how we simply living side by side.
In five years time, the Earth’s population is expected to reach eight billion inhabitants and according to the estimates from the United Nations, the world population is set to increase by more than one billion people in just 15 years.
Feeding this number of mouths — and not destroying the planet in the process — will require a number of changes in food policy to make food safer, to reduce waste, and also to ensure proper waste management. With these new demands come the need to start developing new tech and innovative ways of thinking.
IBM researchers from around the world have looked at different ways of addressing the challenges the food industry is set to face, producing the “5 in 5” initiative. It outlines five predicted challenges the food supply chain is set to face in the next five years and five possible technological solutions IBM is working on.
Scroll on for IBM’s predictions.
1. ‘Digital twin’ virtual farms to improve crop yields
Digital twins are virtual models of farms and they should, in theory, help us to feed a growing world population while using fewer resources.
According to IBM, digital twins will enable us to accurately forecast crop yields, in turn giving banks and financial institutions the data they need to give farmers credit to expand.
In essence, they’ll allow us to simulate farming processes in a virtual environment so we can analyze how they would work before taking them to a real physical environment.
In this way, virtual farm models can be set up to allow farmers to share data, information, or results — as well as to achieve the maximum yield from their crops.
2. Blockchain as a tool to reduce food waste
IBM’s predictions suggest that, in five years time, everyone in the supply chain from farmers to grocery suppliers will be able to use blockchain technology to change the way we grow, process, and distribute food.
Blockchain, within the next half a decade, should allow us to figure out in a clear and fully comprehensive way when to plant, order, or distribute a product, with the aim of significantly reducing food waste.
3. Food safety analysis systems to identify microbes
Nearly 0ne in 10 people get sick each year from food poisoning food, while 420,000 people die from contaminated foodstuffs, according to WHO estimates.
Having a better understanding of microbes and how they work will greatly assist food safety inspectors in upping food safety across farms, factories, and grocery stores.
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IBM researchers are currently working on new food safety analysis systems that will “map microbiomes,” giving greater accuracy when trying to identify dangerous microorganisms present in food.
4. Pathogen-detecting AI on mobile devices
In five years, new technology will enable consumers around the world to easily detect anything that may be contaminating their food products.
AI sensors installed in mobile phones and other portable devices will allow the detection of foodborne pathogens wherever they may appear.
With this sort of tech, we’ll easily be able, for example, to detect the presence of E. coli or Salmonella in food and to prevent outbreaks. According to IBM: “Mobile bacteria sensors could dramatically increase the speed of a pathogen test from days to second.”
5. New recycling methods to give a new lease of life to plastics
From milk cartons to cookie packaging and water bottles, we should eventually be able to recycle pretty much any kind of plastic in the next five years, according to IBM.
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Polyester manufacturers can take comfort from the knowledge that, rather than product packaging ending up on a landfill, we’ll one day be able to turn any trash we produce into something useful.
One process that IBM is now getting involved with, according to Fast Company, is the VolCat solution.
The chemical process allows materials like polyester plastics that have, until now, been difficult to degrade not only to be broken down; VolCat also allows them to be made and converted into new substances that can be used directly in plastic manufacturing machines to make new products.
In the next decade or so, countries across the globe will be adopting innovative recycling alternatives like VolCat.
These solutions mean we can encourage a much more circular approach to recycling and can massively reduce the waste produced as a result of plastic.