Food… will there be enough in 30 years?

It is projected that by the year 2050 there will be over 9.5 billion people on earth. In order to feed that increase, our agriculture production would have to increase by nearly 50%* …let that sink in.

The land we have on earth is what we have… no increasing that. So, what’s the solution?

Agriculture innovation is creating efficiency and the ability to increase output. You may have noticed companies like Charleston’s Vertical Roots which uses shipping containers and hydroponic farming to grow lettuce. And Beyond Meat that creates protein, meat like food from plants, and equipment giant John Deere utilizing technology to increase farming efficiency.

Making current ag operations operate at peak performance is part of the solution. So, we are on the right path, but I believe a large part of the solution is the land that we pass by day after day. The small plots that sit, often dormant, not producing crops or any other output for profit. As a matter of fact, they are usually so small that farmers and foresters can’t make a profit from the plot, so the landowners have a holding that is an expense, not an asset.

The size of a small plot is usually it’s worst enemy. Don’t believe it? Get in your car and drive in any direction for 10 minutes and you’ll likely pass a lot in town that is overgrown, or a small tract on the outskirts covered in kudzu. There are thousands of acres in Chesterfield, Marlboro, and Darlington County just as described.

Now imagine for a moment if you could bring all these individual small plot landowners together with a cohesive plan master plan. Then you have created the necessary mass to work like one large tract. One acre here, 7 acres nearby, 3 acres adjacent, then another 3 acres across the road… you get the picture. All different owners, yet one goal – grow crops.

Sure, it’s not as efficient as having a single 1000 acre tract with one owner, but again, we’ve got to increase ag output by 50% in less than 30 years. It’s a moonshot, but not impossible.

Now this is where it gets cool… county cool, and how it relates to Chesterfield, Marlboro, and Darlington County.

There are two entities in our area that are working on a solution. Yep, right here in our neck of the woods.

One’s mission is to reach each of these small plot owners, educate them on their land’s potential, share the vision of becoming part of a “cluster”, help them tap into financial programs, and create a sustainable plan moving forward.

The other is working on the methodology of physically connecting small plot owners together to create mass ground, a “cluster”. Teaming each based on geographical location, similar soils, etc., and infusing technology to make the logistics of working the ground more efficient and effective.

So, if these two entities teamed together and hyper-focus on our local counties and it works, why couldn’t the practice scale across the U.S. or globally? It could. Thousands of acres becoming “clusters”, thousands of clusters and millions of acres. Now we’re cooking… see what I did there… and then we are carving into that 50% deficit that is projected in the coming years.

The ancillary benefits are just as awesome! Peer into the future, say 2 years from now or 5 years and visualize if both entities are able to begin realizing their missions, we’ll see more productive fields, local jobs being created, and our economies boosted by new revenue streams.

In the coming weeks we’ll be featuring these two local entities in stories and sharing their grand vision for our food future, and how they plan to be a part of the solution.

*National Geographic data