by Emily Newton
With people paying more attention to sustainability when choosing the cars they own, which companies they support, and the activities they participate in, it’s not surprising that many sustainability discussions center around what people eat. Here are five food sustainability trends set to gain momentum this year and beyond.
1. Vertical Farming in Grocery Stores
Vertical farming is an emerging agricultural approach, but people often consider it a more sustainable one than conventional growing methods. That’s because it typically uses less water, and the crops don’t need pesticides because they stay in tightly controlled indoor environments until harvest time.
Moreover, because sensors and automation help determine what’s required and deliver it, there’s less chance for waste to occur.
However, consumers no longer need to visit vertical farming facilities to see it in action. Where can they go? Modified versions of it are happening at some local grocery stores. People might go to the produce sections of their supermarkets and pick greens off the wall, for example. In other cases, the growing happens inside shipping containers, providing a new use for a small section of a store’s parking lot.
2. More People Growing at Home or in Community Gardens
The COVID-19 pandemic continues to drastically affect life for people around the world. Some find it difficult to get products that were widely available in shops before the health crisis struck. Other individuals have more free time due to job loss or shift reductions.
People need healthy ways to manage their pandemic-related anxiety, too. Home-based and community gardens address all these realities and others. Some even send the harvested goods to homeless shelters, supplementing their stocks.
Areas around the United States and elsewhere experienced a sudden but enduring interest in gardening from people interested in trying new hobbies. That worked out especially well for households with kids engaging in remote learning. Staying at home for school can quickly become boring, but getting to go outside and check on the status of growing crops undoubtedly makes it more exciting.
3. Data-Driven Farming
Farming traditionally required lots of guesswork and experience. A farmer could look at forecasts and base their expected success for a season on how certain conditions affected the output in the past. That worked in some cases, but it also brought too many surprises that damaged crops, cost livelihoods, and frequently damaged the environment.
Smart farming is quickly becoming a popular and less resource-intensive option because it lets agriculture professionals rely on hard data rather than gut instinct. The scarcity of clean water is one of the most pressing sustainability issues in farming.
However, intelligent irrigation systems can address it. High-tech equipment can also monitor for pest infestations and give farmers a more accurate perception of a season’s success.
4. Food Manufacturers More Concerned With Sustainability
There’s a progressive and persistent push for food manufacturers to operate more sustainably. Customers often feel more eager to support companies that do, and they view sustainability as something important now and for the foreseeable future. General Mills and Nestlé are among the major food companies to take a stand and promise to operate responsibly in all feasible ways.
Becoming more sustainable doesn’t always mean expansive implementations that require adjusting to many different processes. Sometimes, one of the best approaches is for food plant managers to pursue predictive and preventive maintenance plans.
For example, determining how often to have machines checked can help them perform optimally and cut down on inefficiencies and waste. Assessing the ratio of normal operations to downtime can also highlight where issues exist.
5. The Continued Rise of Plant-Based Products
Many experts at the intersection of food and sustainability assert that eating more plant-based foods and shifting to a meatless or mostly meat-free diet is one of the best long-term ways to personally contribute to sustainability.
However, humans are creatures of habit, and many understandably don’t want to make such changes if doing so would pose too many challenges. Fortunately, showing a plant-based preference is much easier than it was, and it should become even more convenient soon.
Plant-based company Beyond Meat’s stocks rose more than 32% in the last year. That success indicates people had an appetite for its products even as the pandemic changed many of their shopping habits. It also recently agreed to collaborate with PepsiCo to make snacks and drinks with plant-based ingredients. Analysts are unsure whether there will be a substantial market demand for the products. However, more people are open to reducing meat in their diets. Such merchandise could encourage them to make lasting changes.
Expect More Advancements in Food Sustainability
Food sustainability happens at all levels, from the growers who boost crop output without wasting resources to the manufacturers that continually assess how to make processes occur more efficiently and reliably.
From the consumer perspective, people typically don’t make snap decisions to become more sustainable. Instead, they reach such conclusions over time and after conducting significant amounts of research. However, many of the trends mentioned above will show them that it’s easier than they may have thought to make sustainable choices related to the foods they purchase and eat.
Thus, these five examples of progress are only a sample of what’s possible. People interested in additional developments should stay tuned to the industry to discover them.
Emily Newton is the Editor-in-Chief of Revolutionized, an online magazine discussing the latest technologies changing our world.
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