Invited Talk: Sustainability and the Development of Food Production Systems

Providing and maintaining adequate supplies of food and water has always been essential to human settlements, regardless of size and state of development. In today’s world all societies are faced with environmental and political uncertainties that will require novel approaches to how we produce food. Aspects of sustainability include both recycling of water during production (thereby reducing discharge of used water) and potable water reuse, where wastewater is treated to high standards that satisfy drinking water regulations. In the future, reclaimed and desalinated water will become a mainstay of water supplies in many geographic regions. Indeed, in some countries highly treated wastewater is already reused for agriculture (for example, about 90% in Israel and 30% in Spain) and the will to implement such solutions is driven by economic necessity.

Considering the above, innovative food production systems that go beyond traditional forms of agriculture are faced with a dual challenge: (i) how to procure water supplies that are reliable, safe and affordable and (ii) how to design systems that minimize water usage without affecting quality and yield. Given the worldwide growth in resource consumption and waste generation with increasing population and urbanization, the concept of a circular economy is a high-level strategy to move away from the dominant “take-make-dispose” (“once through”) way of economic development, and achieve a shift towards environmental sustainability. Waste management is one of the significant aspects of the circular economy, in which bio-waste serves as a valuable organic resource. Renewable carbon can be extracted or transformed into diverse end-products such as food, feed, bio-based chemicals, biopolymers, fuels and bioenergy. Recycling of bio-wastes contributes significantly to circular economy objectives and sustainable development; moving towards a circular bio-economy enhances competitiveness, positive economic development and job creation by organizational, social and technological innovation. Besides the development of technical innovations, appropriate decisions and strategies regarding sustainability and economic feasibility have to be made.