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Is it physically or biologically possible to double agricultural output in the next ten years? It doesn't matter how much you spend on R&D if we hit the limit
by kiba 5y ago
Is it physically or biologically possible to double agricultural output in the next ten years?
It doesn't matter how much you spend on R&D if we hit the limit of what we can do with biology.
- mikeyouse 5y agoProbably yes.. e.g. there's a massive amount of research into RuBisCO. If we could speed up the primary carbon-fixing reaction, we could massively increase Ag output (also could make a dent in carbon sequestration): https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/RuBisCO#Genetic_engineering https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/RuBisCO#Genetic_engineering There's tons about plant bio we don't fully understand and a lot of room for R&D. An imperfect measure, but in 2021, Google Scholar added over 5,000 results for the term; https://scholar.google.com/scholar?hl=en&as_sdt=0%2C23&as_ylo=2021&q=rubisco&btnG= https://scholar.google.com/scholar?hl=en&as_sdt=0%2C23&as_yl...
- kickout 5y agoYes, it is possible. Probably just entering a new golden age with genomic tools and excellent metadata on the farms that currently do produce. Plenty of arable land, but ideally we only want the most efficient land in production.
- BurningFrog 5y agoIf/when we figure out how to make good tasting beef industrially, without the intermittent "there is a cow" stage, the world will change a LOT, for the better.
- deleted 5y ago[deleted]