0:00 Transcriber: Translate TED Reviewer: Mirjana Čutura
0:07 About 10,000 years ago, humans began to farm.
0:12 This agricultural revolution was a turning point in our history
0:16 that enabled people to settle, build and create.
0:21 In short, agriculture enabled the existence of civilization.
0:26 Today, approximately 40 percent of our planet is farmland.
0:31 Spread all over the world,
0:33 these agricultural lands are the pieces to a global puzzle
0:37 we are all facing:
0:39 in the future, how can we feed every member of a growing population
0:44 a healthy diet?
0:46 Meeting this goal will require
0:48 nothing short of a second agricultural revolution.
0:52 The first agricultural revolution
0:54 was characterized by expansion and exploitation,
0:58 feeding people at the expense of forests, wildlife and water
1:03 and destabilizing the climate in the process.
1:07 That's not an option the next time around.
1:10 Agriculture depends on a stable climate
1:14 with predictable seasons and weather patterns.
1:17 This means we can't keep expanding our agricultural lands,
1:21 because doing so will undermine the environmental conditions
1:24 that make agriculture possible in the first place.
1:28 Instead, the next agricultural revolution
1:31 will have to increase the output of our existing farmland for the long term
1:35 while protecting biodiversity, conserving water
1:39 and reducing pollution and greenhouse gas emissions.
1:44 So what will the future farms look like?
1:47 This drone is part of a fleet that monitors the crops below.
1:52 The farm may look haphazard
1:54 but is a delicately engineered use of the land
1:57 that intertwines crops and livestock with wild habitats.
2:01 Conventional farming methods cleared large swathes of land
2:05 and planted them with a single crop,
2:08 eradicating wildlife
2:09 and emitting huge amounts of greenhouse gases in the process.
2:14 This approach aims to correct that damage.
2:18 Meanwhile, moving among the crops,
2:20 teams of field robots apply fertilizer in targeted doses.
2:25 Inside the soil,
2:26 hundreds of sensors gather data on nutrients and water levels.
2:31 This information reduces unnecessary water use
2:34 and tells farmers where they should apply more and less fertilizer
2:38 instead of causing pollution by showering it across the whole farm.
2:43 But the farms of the future won't be all sensors and robots.
2:48 These technologies are designed to help us produce food
2:51 in a way that works with the environment
2:54 rather than against it,
2:55 taking into account the nuances of local ecosystems.
3:02 Lower-cost agricultural practices can also serve those same goals
3:07 and are much more accessible to many farmers.
3:10 In fact, many such practices are already in use today
3:14 and stand to have an increasingly large impact
3:17 as more farmers adopt them.
3:20 In Costa Rica,
3:21 farmers have intertwined farmland with tropical habitat so successfully
3:26 that they have significantly contributed to doubling the country's forest cover.
3:30 This provides food and habitat for wildlife
3:33 as well as natural pollination and pest control
3:36 from the birds and insects these farms attract,
3:39 producing food while restoring the planet.
3:43 In the United States,
3:44 ranchers are raising cattle on grasslands composed of native species,
3:48 generating a valuable protein source
3:51 using production methods that store carbon and protect biodiversity.
3:56 In Bangladesh, Cambodia and Nepal,
3:59 new approaches to rice production
4:01 may dramatically decrease greenhouse gas emissions in the future.
4:05 Rice is a staple food for three billion people
4:09 and the main source of livelihood for millions of households.
4:12 More than 90 percent of rice is grown in flooded paddies,
4:17 which use a lot of water
4:19 and release 11 percent of annual methane emissions,
4:23 which accounts for one to two percent
4:25 of total annual greenhouse gas emissions globally.
4:29 By experimenting with new strains of rice,
4:32 irrigating less
4:34 and adopting less labor-intensive ways of planting seeds,
4:38 farmers in these countries
4:39 have already increased their incomes and crop yields
4:43 while cutting down on greenhouse gas emissions.
4:47 In Zambia,
4:48 numerous organizations are investing in locally specific methods
4:52 to improve crop production, reduce forest loss
4:56 and improve livelihoods for local farmers.
4:59 These efforts are projected to increase crop yield
5:02 by almost a quarter over the next few decades.
5:06 If combined with methods to combat deforestation in the region,
5:10 they could move the country
5:11 toward a resilient, climate-focused agricultural sector.
5:16 And in India,
5:18 where up to 40 percent of post-harvest food is lost or wasted
5:22 due to poor infrastructure,
5:23 farmers have already started to implement solar-powered cold storage capsules
5:29 that help thousands of rural farmers preserve their produce
5:32 and become a viable part of the supply chain.
5:37 It will take all of these methods,
5:39 from the most high-tech to the lowest-cost,
5:42 to revolutionize farming.
5:44 High-tech interventions stand to amplify
5:47 climate- and conservation-oriented approaches to farming,
5:51 and large producers will need to invest in implementing these technologies.
5:55 Meanwhile, we'll have to expand access to the lower-cost methods
5:59 for smaller-scale farmers.
6:01 This vision of future farming will also require a global shift
6:06 toward more plant-based diets
6:09 and huge reductions in food loss and waste,
6:12 both of which will reduce pressure on the land
6:15 and allow farmers to do more with what they have available.
6:20 If we optimize food production, both on land and sea,
6:24 we can feed humanity
6:25 within the environmental limits of the earth,
6:29 but there's a very small margin of error,
6:32 and it will take unprecedented global cooperation
6:36 and coordination of the agricultural lands we have today.
