The world faces a critical challenge in feeding its growing population, which crossed the 8 billion mark in 2022.
The excessive use of fertilisers during the 1960s, which was part of the green revolution that helped increase food production and meet the demands of a growing population, is unsustainable and has led to barren lands and contaminated groundwater.With climate change and the shrinkage of arable lands, there is an urgent need for scientists and farmers to work together to find disruptive and sustainable solutions to ensure access to safe and healthy food.
As scientists work alongside farmers to modernise the industry, the development of new, technology-driven farming methods could help cultivate an urban agriculture landscape that will see increased yield, reduced food production costs, and make farming an attractive career and business option in urban areas such as Singapore.
Traditional farming has existed since the beginning of human civilisation. For decades, to ensure access to affordable food, many countries maintain strategic collaborations, well-crafted policies, trade support and subsidies. It is one of three IRGs within the Singapore-MIT Alliance for Research and Technology — MIT’s research enterprise in Singapore, which is supported by the National Research Foundation Singapore under its Campus for Research Excellence and Technological Enterprise.
Having worked alongside farmers to better understand the constraints of traditional farming methods, DiSTAP has been developing a concept of using optical tools and sensors to extract biochemical information from living plants non-invasively, and nanotechnology-enabled molecular recognition for real-time sensing and measurement of plant signalling hormones and stress responses.
This forms a closed-loop feedback control, a central concept in DiSTAP’s vision, to aid farmers in enhancing crop yield and quality. Driven by advances in technology, farming will no longer be a job for hard labourers, but will attract skilled professionals passionate about sustainable agriculture.
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