As the global population increases, it becomes imperative to find efficient techniques in agriculture to keep up with the increasing demand for food.
Worryingly, only a handful of countries worldwide are 'self-sufficient', that is, able to produce more food than their citizens consume. As an example, we can show France in Europe. France is the only country in Europe that can boast of being independent in food. All other European countries have to import substantial quantities of produce to feed their citizens.
One of the main problems with food production is the production area. An average of 700 square meters of space is required to feed one person. For example, in a city with a population of 100,000, you need an area of approximately 70 million square meters to feed everyone.
One possible solution to the problem mentioned above would be vertical farming, where crops are grown in vertically stacked layers in a controlled environment. In this method, much less land area is required to grow the same number of crops, while increasing the productivity per plant and significantly reducing environmental factors that adversely affect the crop.
However, the cost of running such farms is much higher than with traditional methods. For this reason, the existing vertical farms mainly produce products such as lettuce, basil, parsley and thyme.
Russia can supply many foods, especially grain. However, the country's food supply problem has been seriously affected by natural events in recent years.
Lastly, in 2010, Russia stopped all grain exports due to drought. Grain reserves, like meat and other farm products, are approaching dangerously low levels, creating a nationwide food threat problem. Countries importing Russian grain were affected, and even the Russian seed bank was partially exhausted.
In a similar situation that arose during the COVID-19 period, Russia went to export restrictions extending until July 2021.
With these events, the Russian government is very keen to develop these new technologies in agricultural production in order to protect the food supply and export.
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In 2020, St. Agrotechnologies science center was opened in St. Petersburg to develop future agrotechnologies. Scientists are making breakthroughs that could help grow more needed crops like potatoes, oilseeds and grains vertically at affordable prices.
Prototype farms are focused on rapid seed production, as the renewal of the nation's seed bank is a top priority. In these farms, the scientists tested seed potatoes from which potatoes would be grown in conventional potato fields.
Dynamic LED illuminations are used in the prototype for light intensities to be provided to individual plants and their growth cycles. While plants are fed with nutrient-enriched automatic irrigation systems, the air is constantly sterilized by climate control systems. By digitally controlling a number of different sensors they use, scientists can grow ten times as many crops per m2 and harvest six times a year.
Vasiliy Zotov , head of the project, said: "Our aim was to develop a universal multifunctional tool that would exploit the natural potential of different varieties, increase their productivity and improve quantitative parameters. For this we used technologies and adjustable LED lighting that can provide natural growing environments without adding any genetic changes." said.
The team is currently collecting data on how by fine-tuning various systems, they can further increase productivity, get even higher yields from each harvest, and apply these techniques to other crops.
Experts predict that the world will reach a food deficit in less than decades. If nothing is done to change our consumption or increase our ability to produce food, some suggest we will start to see famine as early as 2023.
In the light of these suggested data, it is clear that there will be an urgent need for the aforementioned technology breakthroughs.