7 Billion Humans Need to Eat Every Day
How can we sustainably produce all that food?
I spend a lot of time thinking about food. Yes, I love to eat it, but specifically, how can we create an equitable supply of nutritious food worldwide?
When my son and I began and operated an organic vegetable farm in Central Texas for ten years, we saw first-hand many of the challenges of producing nutritious food, including:
Extremes of weather.
High cost of land.
Hard physical labor at low wages.
Accessing water.
Building soil fertility.
How can food be produced close to where it's consumed while allowing the farmers to make a living? Where will new farmers gain the skill they need to succeed?
Of course, these questions are only a few of the myriad of issues facing food consumption, production, climate change, equitable access, and so much more. One obvious thing is our food system is broken.
Every year I look forward to the Future of Food track at SXSW.
South by Southwest (SXSW)is a multi-track annual event of film, interactive media, music festivals, and conferences held in Austin, Texas, in mid-March.
Years ago, when my son and I were farming in Bastrop, he spoke at one of the agriculture panels.
This year, the sponsor is the nonprofit organization Food Tank.
We’re building a global community for safe, healthy, nourished eaters. We aim to educate, inspire, advocate, and create change. We spotlight and support environmentally, socially, and economically sustainable ways of alleviating hunger, obesity, and poverty and create networks of people, organizations, and content to push for food system change.—Food Tank vision+mission
I'm inspired to see 60 experts gathered not only to discuss problems but to present innovative solutions.
All the presentations will be archived online.
Don't worry if you couldn't be in Austin or watch the speakers in real-time—you can access all the talks here. You can also sign up for the Food Tank newsletter and check out the many events planned in all 50 states of the U.S.
Curious about the topics?
Lately, I've been exploring the potential of raising insects as food, certainly for livestock and pets, and expanding their use as human food.
I enjoyed hearing Shakara Maggitt, Entomologist and Research Technician, at Texas State University.
She's researching the use of adding Black Soldier Fly frass to the diet of ruminants to reduce methane gas production. In addition, soldier fly larvae are voracious consumers of waste, don't bite, and diminish the numbers of house and stable flies.
Sarah Schlafly, the founder of Mighty Cricket, discussed their company and the potential of crickets as human food. While many of us have never eaten insects, intentionally at least, they are consumed in more than 150 countries worldwide.
Recently I wrote A Farmer Tells the Truth About Growing Your Own Food, discussing the difficulty in producing enough plant-based protein and fat.
For example, it takes more than three pounds of feed to produce one pound of chicken meat, while producing crickets requires only a 1:1 ratio of feed to ready-to-eat cricket meal. I'm not committed yet, but it has potential.
I'll let you know what I learn from this afternoon's presentation; part 1: Tackling "the world's dumbest problem" is easier said than done; food recovery + up-cycling. It's another subject I'm passionate about — food waste and composting.
Of course, many presenters have financial interests in their proposed solutions. This doesn't bother me, as innovation often results from corporate investments. But please—watch some of these presentations, learn something new and share what you learn.
All our lives depend on it.