Want to know the future of food?

Posted by AFN Staff Writers on 20th August 2018

TO many people, organic or wild caught food is the best and healthiest produce to eat. But in 2050, when Australia’s population hits 37 million, we may have to find more sustainable ways to farm our food than nature currently provides.

Exploring the breakthroughs that could determine what we might be eating in the coming decades is  Feeding Australia, a two-part series by ABC television’s Catalyst science show that’s a must-see.

See an innovative barramundi farm in the Northern Territory, which employs an elaborate series of artificial wetlands to reduce its impact on the local environment.

The fish farmers here also tweak nature to ensure the two million barramundi don’t instinctively attack and kill each other. But is this kind of farm sustainable?

See also how nature is being tweaked in a vast glasshouse in Victoria. Nearly everything about the environment is artificial, from the Co2 pumped through large pipes to the controlled air pressure and humidity.

The farm is incredibly efficient, creating thousands of new tomatoes every week. But there’s a downside to an environment which lacks both wind and insects: the tomatoes have to be artificially pollinated.

The show also examines the pros and cons of enhancing nature to increase food production at a modular farm in Brisbane where hundreds of lettuces and other greens are drip fed nutrients in a sealed room under LED lights.

Also in Australian Food News

Learn how an organic chemist is on a mission is to find an alternative to beef, a staple of the Australian diet that’s also one of the most environmentally expensive forms of protein in the world. It takes at least 25kg of grain to create 1kg of beef.

Could tacos filled with protein-rich insects be a viable alternative and we see a new form of plant-based protein that tastes and looks like minced-meat at a gourmet burger cafe.

During the Australia wide tour, the team looks at the preservative qualities of the Kakadu plum, and discovers a new way to propagate avocadoes to end the present-day avocado shortage. And there is an experiment to find ways to reduce the human appetite for fat.

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