Skyfarming: Multi-story food production to improve food security? Joachim Sauerborn Department of Plant Production and Agroecology in the Tropics and Subtropics joachim.sauerborn@uni-hohenheim.de Landslide Nepal www.nytimes.com/slideshow/2008/07/15/science/0715-farming_5.html
Action-based knowledge desiderata Components of action Situation Aim(s) Means Consequences Facts What's the case? What's to be achieved? What means are available? What's to be expected? 2
What s the case? population in millions 8000 7000 6000 5000 4000 3000 2000 1000 0 8,000 6,000 2,400 1,550 1,128 629 1 50 170 254 400 425-10000 -1000 1 1000 1250 1500 1750 1850 1900 1950 2000 2020 year Major challenges for future food security Source: www.census.gov/ipc/www/worldhis.html 3
Regional distribution of world population World population total (billions) Africa Asia Europe Latin America/Caribbean North America Oceania 1950 2000 2050 8.8% 55.5% 21.7% 6.6% 6.8% 0.5% 2.5 6.0 9.0 13.2% 60.7% 12.0% 8.5% 5.0% 0.5% 20.0% 58.3% 7.3% 9.1% 5.0% 0.5% 4
Between 1950 and 2000 the world population doubled and the meat consumption increased 5fold Humans Cows 1950 2000
McDonald's-Restaurants worldwide Number of McDonald's-Restaurants 35.0000 30.000 25.000 20.000 15.000 10.000 5.000 0 1954 59 64 Restaurants Countries 69 74 79 84 89 94 99 140 120 100 80 60 40 20 0 Number of countries with McDonald's-Restaurants Number of McDonald's-Restaurants as well as countries with McDonald's- Restaurants since 1954 Source: Mauser 2005, In: Die Zukunft der Erde. 219-258. Fischer Verlag, Frankfurt 6
Stress causes dramaticharvest losses Yield (kg/ha) Losses caused by abiotic factors (drought, heat, ) Losses caused by biotic factors (insects, fungi, ) Average Yield Stress reduces harvests dramatically: cereals appear to suffer particularly from abiotic stress caused by heat, cold, drought or the oxygen deficiency that results from stagnant water or compacted soil. The potential harvest (total column length) is partly compromised by insect pests, plant diseases and competition from weeds. However, abiotic factors are responsible for the lion s share of harvest losses. Quelle: Bayer CropScience Courier 2/08 7
Permanent pastures and global arable land Permanent meadows & pastures (2007): ca. 34 Mio. km² Africa + Western Europe (~34 Mio. km²) Global arable land (2007): ca. 14 Mio. km² Afghanistan, China, India + Pakistan (~14 Mio. km²) 8
Land use change forecasted subject to increased food demand Arable land (10 9 ha) Pasture land (10 9 ha) Irrigated area (10 6 ha) Fertiliser (10 6 t) N P Pesticides (10 6 t) 2000 1.54 3.47 280 87 34.3 3.75 2020 1.66 3.67 367 135 47.6 6.55 2050 1.89 4.01 529 236 83.7 10.10 After: Tilman D. et al. 2001, Science 292: 281-284 9
Agriculture worldwide has a price in the form of environmental degradation and the decline of nature and landscape values. 10
Decreasing structural and biological diversity. Consequence on ecosystem services and functions unknown. Pristine forest Shaded tea Rubber plantation 11
Soya bean production (Glycine max) Mato grosso, Brazil 12
General menace to sustainability Excessive utilization of resources and environment by the expanding population; fragmentation and loss of habitat due to deforestation; destruction of the tropical rain forest as a result of planting high value crops like rubber, sugar cane and tea; pollution of water and soil by excessive application of fertilisers and chemicals. 13
What is needed is a balance between: economic goals and rural employment, the care for clean water and air, animal well being, food quality and quantity, the preservation of environmental functions, and the protection of landscape and biodiversity. The search for conceptually new land use systems that meet these multiple goals requires the systematic combination of societal, economic, ecological and technical knowledge. 14
Environmental constraints for rainfed farming Region Area Europe Russian Federation Africa Latin America/Caribbean Asia North America Oceania total 10 6 ha 586 1,677 2,990 2,049 3,112 2,139 848 with constraints to cold to dry 10 6 ha % in % 199 1,140 2,013 1,241 2,107 1,529 630 34.0 68.0 67.3 60.6 67.7 71.5 74.3 4.8 44.5 0.0 0.3 3.7 35.9 0.1 0.05 1.9 47.4 19.1 42.2 14.0 58.6 to wet 0.0 0.0 0.04 3.5 5.0 0.0 3.9 to steep World 13,400 8,859 66.1 13.2 26.5 2.0 4.6 19.8 9.0 1.9 2.5 9.1 9.0 3.2 1.2 poor soils 20.2 19.7 20.2 24.9 9.1 18.5 10.5 altered after Fischer et al., 2002 16
Anamorphosis of the world: Renewable water resources Quelle: Svein Tveitdhal, Grud, Arendal, Norway (UNEP Project), 1996 17
What sto be achieved? Food supply a global challenge World population (billion) Arable land and permanent crops (billion hectares) Farm land per person (hectares) 1950 2.5 1.3 0.5 1975 4.0 1.4 0.4 2000 6.0 1.5 0.3 2020 7.5 1.5 0.2 Source: Scheitza R. 2006; 18 Pflanzenschutz-Nachrichten Bayer 59, 5-16
Faidherbia albida and millet, Niger19
Climate change will depress agricultural yields in most countries by 2050 given current agricultural practices and crop varieties 20 Source: Müller and others 2009
World grain trade depends on exports from a few countries Note: Annual exports and imports are based on the average over four years (2002 2006). 21 Source: World Development Report 2010
What means are available? Possibilities to increase 4F production: 1. increase of productivity per unit area 2. prevention of exhaustive cultivation 3. development of new cropping areas 4. reclamation of degraded land 5. Skyfarming? Flevoland, The Netherlands 22
Whatareweexpectingtoday? 23
Farming in the sky: Traditional techniques use too much energy and produce too little food for our growing planet. Trade off between 4F production and metropolitan areas. We live vertically why not grow our food in a multi story building? www.chrisjacobs.com 24
The concept of crop production levels potential growth growth-determining factors attainable growth growth-limiting factors - water - nutrients growth-enhancing measures actual growth - radiation - temperature - plantcharacteristics growthreducing factors plant protection measures - diseases - pests - weeds - environmental pollution production level 25 Source: CGIAR, 1995
Benefits from Skyfarming I: Multiplication of yield by: optimal growth conditions (water, temperature, light, nutrients) year round plant production no crop failures due to droughts, floods, frost, pests etc., thus 1 indoor ha is equivalent to 5 7 outdoor ha or more, depending upon the crop. Alleviation of environmental pollution by: reduced input of mineral nutrients e.g. N and P into natural ecosystems efficient H 2 O use by re in feed of water transpired from crop reduced pesticides load returning farmland back to the natural landscape thus restoring ecosystem functions and services. 26
Benefits from Skyfarming II: Production where consumption takes place (e.g. urban areas), i.e. short route of transport, reduced costs and CO 2 emission (less tractors, plows, shipping). Improved working conditions compared with outdoor or greenhouse conditions (e.g. Almeria, Spain). Continuous production: buffer price shocks in international crop commodity market. Energetic use of by products e.g. straw, roots in directly integrated biogas plant, etc. Reduced conflict over natural resources, such as water and land etc. 27
Open questions: Skyfarming Building typology? Building envelope & supporting structure? Indoor atmosphere? Energy supply? Crop husbandry? Conveyor technique? Postharvest technology? Economic valuation? Risk assessment? Consumer acceptance? http://vincent.callebaut.org/page1-img-dragonfly.html 28
Special challenges will come up in the following fields: Development of an aeroponic crop production, Water and nutrient efficiency by recirculation-systems, Pest and disease free crop production, Optimal light exposure, Recycling of material and Energetic resources. 29
The example of rice (Oryza sp.) Rice production (2008): 685 013 374 t Area harvested: 158 955 388 ha (22% of the global grain production area) Global average yield: 4.309 t ha -1 Yield potential under temperate conditions with longer day length, longer ripening period and lower night temperature is around 14 t ha -1 (Bouman et al. 2007) Average HO-requirement (evapotranspiration) 910 l kg -1 (Tuong et al. 2005) 5 up to 20% of the global methane (CH 4 ) emission of approx. 600 Tg yr -1 arise in rice production systems (Abao et al. 2000; Kirk 2004; Jagadeesh Babu et al. 2006). Rice requires large cropping areas, shows an unfavourable water balance and has a high share in the worldwide emission of climatically relevant gases. 30
Aeroponics Substrate free planting system Roots partly or completely exposed to air Supplied with nutrients by either spraying or nebulizing nutrient solution to the roots Foto by M. Schmierrer 31
Aeroponics advantages Full acess to the total root system Foto by M. Schmierrer Roots are clean and visible Possibility of collecting in-vivo samples Root-zone atmosphere fully controllable Possibility of measuring changes in the composition of the nutrient solution in a very thin film on the root surface 32
Idea of a conveyance technology in the context of Skyfarming
Skyfarming in a nutshell System approach in Skyfarming From the plant over the growth conditions and the terms of conveyance indoor the building envelope establish a relationship with the outside area. The system extends into the socioeconomic environment as well as the supra-regional connections in the potential target areas. 34
Thank you for your attention! 35