Nearly half of the world's land (44%) is used for agriculture, according to data from the UN Food and Agriculture Organization, with one-third of tha

Why Our Produce Could Soon Be Grown in Total Darkness

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2024-11-28 16:30:05

Nearly half of the world's land (44%) is used for agriculture, according to data from the UN Food and Agriculture Organization, with one-third of that going to croplands and two-thirds to grazing land. That's a whole lot of space where trees once grew and where people once roamed. While we need to continue to increase our output of food production to serve the growing global population, there may be a way to save a whole lot of land while growing even more food, and it involves some seriously cool science known as "electric farming."

Yes, it's just as futuristic as it sounds. Electric farming, or "electro-agriculture," does something rather unique. It enhances photosynthesis, which is how plants convert the sun's light into energy and replaces sunlight with a solar-powered chemical reaction to "more efficiently converts carbon dioxide into an organic molecule that plants would be genetically engineered to 'eat,'" Cell Press explains. This would allow plants to grow in complete darkness without the need for light, soil, or a ton of land. Here's what you need to know about the process and how it could change global food production forever.

In its simplest terms, electro-agriculture is an alternative way of growing produce that doesn't involve direct sunlight.