Feeding a Changing World

FARMERS HAVE GROWN food in roughly the same way for thousands of years: planting seeds and watching them grow; raising animals from birth to slaughter; hoping that nature provides them the right amounts of rain and sun.

Now, entrepreneurs say they have a better idea. Agriculture in its current form is bad for the planet, they say—fields for crops and animal grazing occupy land where trees could be planted, and farming sucks up vast amounts of increasingly precious water. Why not make food in a completely different way, maybe growing lettuce in skyscrapers and creating meat from cells in a petri dish?

There is a dire need to change how food is produced. An August U.N. report prepared by more than 100 experts warned that exploitation of land and water is already putting pressure on humanity’s ability to feed itself. Those pressures will grow as the world’s population reaches 9.7 billion by 2050 and as high temperatures and floods make it more difficult to grow crops in some regions. That’s why mission-driven entrepreneurs and funders see food tech as the ultimate investment opportunity, making money while also creating food that makes the planet a better place.

The result has been billions of dollars invested in companies that promise to reinvent the food that ends up on your dinner