The food in the future may come from high technology.

To feed the planet's 7 billion people, we have reclaimed 40 per cent of the earth's land, and the world's population is expected to reach 9.6 billion by 2050, and food production needs to be increased by 70 per cent to avoid massive malnutrition, according to the United Nations Food and Agriculture Organization. But there is not much land available for development. This means that we need to change the way food is grown on a large scale.

Change starts with the cultivation of fruits and vegetables. The Tavenas Desert in southern Spain is the driest place in Europe, but it produces more than half of Europe's fresh fruits and vegetables, contributing $1.5 billion to the local economy and is regarded as an economic miracle. The achievement is due to planting in the greenhouse, the environment in the greenhouse is controllable, and the Tavenas model can be promoted in other parts of the world. From the perspective of environment and land use, controllable environmental agriculture is a great idea. The output of vegetables and fruits in the greenhouse is much higher than that of open-air planting. In the greenhouse, the weeds, pests and bad weather that cause problems will disappear. On the other hand, a set of hydroponic molds can be planted in multiple layers on the same land. As arable land becomes less and less, and the global population continues to rise, the development of "vertical farms" has become our only option. Perhaps in the future, most of our agricultural products will come from steel and concrete skyscrapers illuminated by LED light. But at present, greenhouse technology is only used in fruits and vegetables, while grains, which provide more than 50% calories for humans, cannot make a lot of money from greenhouse cultivation. Therefore, planting in a controlled environment is unlikely to be a powerful supplement to grain cultivation.

The action to meet food rations for 9.6 billion people may be simple-to modernize agriculture throughout the world. At present, the farming methods of farmers in many underdeveloped areas are backward, there is no rotation, there is almost no irrigation, and they are even using animal power to cultivate land. Promoting agricultural modernization around the world can feed more people. Promoting the diversification of staple crops and planting legumes, potatoes and sweet potatoes can greatly increase both grain yield and nutritional value. Farms with data as the core are on the rise. As the data is collected, the farm will become more efficient. In addition, in order to solve the contradiction between the increasing demand for meat and the decrease of arable land, the meat in the future may come from the laboratory. So it's not a crazy idea to turn farmland into a high-tech laboratory in the future. If human beings can use technology and infrastructure to solve the food problem, there will be an interesting side effect: saving a lot of land resources. Returning the saved arable land to nature will also play a considerable role in improving the environment, especially in reversing climate change.