December 29, 2021
GEN ST 297 | Future-ish | Autumn 2021
The Autumn 2021 GEN ST 297 Future-ish seminar group was, once again, in person and the larges number of students since the seminar was restarted with over 15 participants. The quarter focused on the post-COVID and there was a strong connection to agricultural systems, including produce agriculture but other managed food commodities like fisheries.
Seminar Scenarios
The Autumn 2021 seminar students chose to look at the nexus of agriculture and the metaverse. The four scenarios of future states for this synthesis are shared below.
Scenario 1 | Food Systems Front & Center. More situations like Whole Foods begin to appear, health foods but easily available and distributed through large systems. More and more, food systems are planned from the point of planting to arrival at the store where consumers will purchase the items. Technology is appearing in all sectors of the food industry.
Scenario 2. Far Out Farm Tech. Farm technology, like that used by John Deere, evolves very quickly. GPS and GIS are used extensively to optimize crop output. Farm animals are becoming very integrated with technology as well. Transport of crops and other farm products focuses on sustainability more and more with innovations having many positive business case impacts.
Scenario 3. High Tech Seeds and Systems. Seeds, through both natural hybridization and genetic engineering, become specifically targeted for their particular growing environment and ecosystems. Pesticides are reduced greatly and very specialized when they are used. Overall, fewer chemicals are used, but the chemicals that are used are much safer for the entire growing production streams. It’s now very common to grow your own food in your home or apartment as micro agriculture is integrated into buildings. Logging byproducts continue to find more and more diverse uses. Solar availability for colonies on the moon and Mars is being researched.
Scenario 4. Floating Farms. Platforms for agriculture are engineered to float in lakes and oceans, as well as in the sky to maximize solar collection. Obsolete ocean vessels and other structures are repurposed for mobile high tech farming. As space travel extends further from Earth and resources throughout the solar system are explored, asteroids and moods are repurposed specialized farming. 3D printing of agriculture structures for many purposes becomes prevalent on Earth, as well as in multiple space applications such as extended travel periods and communities on the moon or Mars.