Sustainability
How to Solve World Hunger and Food Insecurity in 2024
Table of Contents
Electronic Soil (eSoil)
Have you heard of hydroponic farming?
It’s a way of growing plants in monitored indoor environments without the need for soil. Hydroponics is used in farming because it increases the amount of plants that farmers can produce.
Recently, scientists at Linköping University in Sweden have created what they call electronic soil, or eSoil.
This is a type of soil used for hydroponics that stimulates plant roots by using electricity. The scientists have found that this increases the amount of crops grown by 50%. They are hoping that this breakthrough in hydroponics will help feed more hungry people in the world.
“We can’t say that hydroponics will solve the problem of food security, but it can definitely help”
Eleni Stavrinidou associate professor at Linköping University
However, there is this idea that we need to produce more food to solve world hunger. This is not true. In fact, producing more food might even be worse for food security on a large scale.
Here’s why.
Hydroponics Increases Food Production
Hydroponic systems give farmers more control over the environment plants grow in. Farmers can optimize both nutrient delivery and plant space in any way they see fit. Controlling these two things increases plant production while decreasing the time it takes them to grow.
In their journal, the researchers state that food security is a major issue. By 2050, the world population is expected to increase to 9.7 billion. The aim is to evolve hydroponics and use electronic soil (eSoil) to ensure food security as the world population grows.
But there’s a twist.
Does Increasing Food Production Help Food Security?
Out of the 7.8 billion people in the world, nearly 1 billion (or 10%) face hunger every year. And yet, we currently produce enough food to feed 1.5x the current population of the world, or 10 billion people.
9.7 billion is the expected population in 2050.
This means that right now, there is more than enough food to feed the expected population in 2050. So, using hydroponic eSoil to increase the production of food does not help food security. It just increases the amount of food and money that is wasted.
The Real Problem with Food Security is Waste
In 2023, the world used an entire year of resources in just 7 months. There is a huge waste problem. It is important—and even necessary— that waste be reduced or better utilized before looking for ways to increase food production to ensure food security.
Why?
If the world continues to produce more food than is needed, and there is already a waste problem, then even more food will be wasted. Wasted food costs money, and money is needed to create systems that ensure food security is met for everyone.
How Much Money Could Be Saved by Reducing Food Waste?
Nearly 1.3 billion tons of food is wasted annually. This food amounts to over $1 Trillion in the U.S. every single year.
How to Solve World Hunger
The UN reports that it would take $40 billion a year to feed every starving person in the world and solve world hunger. This might seem like a lot of money, but nearly $1 Trillion a year can be saved if food is not wasted. By creating more efficient supply chain systems and using AI to anticipate food overproduction, it is very possible to save enough money to ensure food security for everyone.
Individuals can do their part to decrease the amount of waste they produce in their household, but there are two main reasons for food waste: Overproduction and problems with transportation. Artificial Intelligence can be leveraged when dealing with both of these problems.
How can AI Help Solve World Hunger?
Artificial Intelligence and machine learning can be used to predict future demand and how much crops farmers should harvest. This will save money on overproduction. Even more, AI can predict what will happen given a certain event. So, if an event—like climate change— happens that causes overproduction, then at least the leftovers can be expected.
If something is expected then it can also be prepared for.
Two scenarios happen when using AI predictive analysis to solve world hunger:
- There is leftover or overproduction.
- There is money that is saved.
Both these things are big wins for solving world hunger in 2024 and onward!
Leftovers and Overproduction
If there are leftovers or overproduction, food can be directed to those needing it. This can happen instantly because the overproduction was anticipated using the AI predictive analysis, so delivery programs were developed beforehand.
Money Can Be Saved
If there is no leftover or overproduction, then it means that AI predictive analysis was a success, and no money was lost. The money that was saved can then be funnelled into a fund that is specifically made to feed the hungry and ensure food security.
Solve World Hunger by Creating a Fund
Money that is saved by making more efficient supply chain systems can be directed to a fund. If this fund is held in investments, then not only do you help the economy, but you grow money to further fund world hunger.
Much in the same way that investments are used to offset the effects of inflation, this food security fund can be used to grow money for the poor in years when supply chains were not so efficient at preventing waste.
As AI advances, it may even be possible to integrate the anticipation of leftover food (or money saved) as an event that is directly part of the supply chain.
It might even be necessary to do this in the future.
Can eSoil Help Food Security?
eSoil can be used to increase the amount of Hydroponic crop production. However, the main problem for food security is not production, it is efficiency. There is more than enough food to go around. So, electronic soil can only ensure food security on a small scale, not a large one.
IC INSPIRATION
You do not solve an overproduction problem by producing more.
Unless you only want to produce more for the people who have more, it becomes important to create a chain that efficiently funnels food and money to those who don’t have anything.
The problem is first anticipating the amount of food that is left over, and the amount of money that is saved. Then, we can get it to the hungry when they need it.
Have you heard of Lean Six Sigma? It is a methodology that originated in Japan. The Japanese were so efficient at producing Toyota’s that nobody could compete with them. In the 1990s, The CEO of Motorola adopted Lean, and Lean became Lean Six Sigma, which is now the backbone of the entire supply chain industry.
When Lean Six Sigma was introduced to Jack Welch, the CEO of General Electric (GE), he said: “We are going to shift the paradigm from fixing products to fixing and developing processes, so they produce nothing but perfection or close to it.”
His phrase sums up the meaning of efficiency… Food security is not a matter of production; it is a matter of efficiency.
Producing more food to feed the world is like General Electric fixing its product instead of the process that creates it.
By focusing on the product, you miss the big picture.
But by focusing on the process, you create the picture that you want.
This is why I say food security needs to become an actual part of the supply chain. By researching how Artificial Intelligence can predict food overproduction, shortages, inventory, and demand, you can make money that can go toward solving world hunger.
Here’s your typical supply chain:
- Production, handling, packaging, distribution, retailing, consumption
There needs to be something more within, between, or after these that does the following:
- Anticipates leftovers that can be directed to those who need it before it becomes “waste”
- Reduces waste and saves money, and then funnels those savings into a growth fund made specifically for the poor and hungry
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