Human Futures September 2019 | Page 28

ranging from insect protein to the Impossible The venture capital surging into this area
Burger© to predominantly plant-based diets. suggests optimism about its potential, though
Cellular agriculture is one potential pathway
to sustainable food production. The Cellular
Agriculture Society (CAS) defines the approach
as the use of “biotechnology to produce animal
the use of cellular agriculture on an industrial/
global basis will require smart regulation, scaling-
up production in an environmentally sustainable
way, and consumer trust and acceptance.
products without animals.” This can be done From a futures standpoint, the human and social
through tissue engineering, for cell-based meat, aspects of cellular agriculture are likely to prove
cell-based seafood, and wild life products, or more difficult challenges than the science. Though
through fermentation for dairy, eggs, gelatin, the approach is promising, a transformation on
leather, and silk (CAS 2019). Major investors in this scale will require iterative consultation with
cellular agriculture start-ups and science include the rural communities most likely to be affected.
Bill Gates, Richard Branson, Cargill, and Tyson. Even if there is a general consensus that climate
change must be addressed, it is arguably unfair,
in a worst-case scenario, for rural communities
and the workforce that is embedded in pastoral
agriculture to wear the costs of agricultural
change alone. Futurists who want to contribute
to food transformations will need to bring robust
tools of foresight and facilitation to the job and
be mindful of the complex interactions between
The Future of Food:
major changes to food production and affiliated
WHAT ABOUT CELLULAR
AGRICULTURE? industries such as transportation, food retail,
Amy L. Fletcher, University of Canterbury this size poses equity and fairness issues not only
and the restaurant sector. Ideally, the futurist
community also needs a leading organization to
host and make publicly available high-quality case
studies of rural and agricultural transformation
done via a futures lens. Finally, futurists need to
be mindful that agricultural transformation of
within advanced industrialized countries, but also
globally between rich, middle-income, and poor
countries.
The challenge of food transformation is huge, but
Soylent Green (1973) is a classic B-movie starring In our own era, the issue of food transformations is Charlton Heston and Leigh Taylor-Young. I do not now front and center for corporates, governments, want to spoil the plot for those who have not yet and citizens. The Food and Agriculture Organization seen it, but will say that it is well-worth viewing (FAO) estimates that world population will rise on a rainy afternoon and it is probably no surprise to approximately 9.1 billion by 2050, requiring a that the food issue becomes rather . . . dystopian. seventy percent increase in food production to Though the movie is a popcorn thriller of the Cold avoid food insecurity and social unrest. This gap is War era, it raises issues that remain quite timely, unlikely to be met by current production methods including the effects of overpopulation and the that are already straining land, water, and climate greenhouse effect on food availability. Like all beyond sustainable limits. Farmers, innovators, good mid-twentieth century drive-in movies, it and policy-makers will need to lead a large-scale captures the emotional turmoil of its era in ways and integrated transformation of the global food that the academic article or scholarly monograph system over the next thirty years, while consumers Food and Agriculture Organization (n.d.) How to Feed the World in 2050. Available at: http://www.fao.org/fileadmin/
cannot replicate. will need to consider alternative food sources templates/wsfs/docs/expert_paper/How_to_Feed_the_World_in_2050.pdf
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HUMAN FUTURES
the pay-offs in sustainability, rural revitalization,
and human health could be profound. Futurists
therefore have a key role to play in ensuring that
the scenario envisioned in Soylent Green remains
just a movie.
REFERENCES
Cellular Agriculture Society (2019). https://www.cellag.org/
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