POCKET CLASS: What will we eat tomorrow? Exploring the future of food
When people think about food, they usually think about grocery shopping and making meals.
When Dr. Rob Newell, Canada Research Chair in Climate Change, Biodiversity & Sustainability, thinks about food, he is thinking about much more than his weekly meal plan.
To him, food is a part of the economy, environment, culture, politics and human wellbeing. It also currently rests on a fragile food system — vulnerable to everything from trade wars to climate change to global conflicts.
In his RRU Pocket Class, he says communities can gain more control over food systems while also increasing local food security.
Some potential solutions? Growing food without soil and meat without animals.
While they might sound like science fiction, he says these methods reduce our need for land, water and the production of agricultural pollutants.
“They also allow us to grow food in both urban and non-urban places that are indoors and protected from climate impacts.”
Yet while they have potential, he cautions that technological solutions like these are not a silver bullet for food security issues.
“These methods also use a lot of energy, and we can still only grow a limited number of crops in these ways,” he says. “The key is, as these new industries emerge, we’ve got to invite everyone to the table — from policymakers to Indigenous communities and farmers — to create a food system that is not only sustainable but also resilient and just.”
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