To avoid diving down a rabbit hole to answer this question, I have one piece of advice: follow the seeds. We are on the cusp of an agricultural revolution. While many agree this is the case, things quickly get contentious. Is this the Fourth Agricultural Revolution, the Fifth, or even…

For humans, a pandemic from a novel virus with a 4% mortality rate would be a global catastrophe. Today’s farmers face crop pandemics with mortality rates approaching 100%. That’s not hyperbole: banana plantations around the world are trying to contain a virulent fungus that threatens 100% of the leading variety…

English scholar Thomas Malthus made his first predictions about population economics and resources in 1798. More than two centuries later, there have been many projections that the world population will eventually outstrip agricultural production. The consequence? Mass starvation. Mercifully, agricultural production has kept pace and mooted those predictions over the…

A changing climate. Limited arable land. Increasing pest resistance: How speed can help us overcome current sustainability challenges in the new millennium. For hundreds of years, North America’s farmers have felt they could safely assume that next year’s weather would be much like last year’s and every other year’s, with…

A short guide to answering a complicated question. While Covid-19 has commandeered the world’s attention, an important debate that will weigh on the future of agriculture is in process in Europe. European regulatory agencies are assessing what constitutes a genetically modified (GM) product. This debate started in the last century…

In the next 30 years, the world’s farmers have a significant challenge ahead of them: feed an additional two billion people, all while adapting to climate change and little arable land. …