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Now What: Tackling The Global Food Shortage With Future Farming

Tackling The Global Food Shortage With Future Farming

Right now, the world is producing food at a rate which can't keep up with our population growth.

We need to produce at least 50% more food to feed nine billion people by 2050, but natural resource limitations, environmental contamination and agricultural decline are standing in the way.

However, thanks to modern technology and urban farming, people like Caleb Harper are working on a new way form of agriculture.

The effects of drought and climate change on a Californian farm.

Harper has created a food computer, which is essentially a computer controlled greenhouse.

The current state of agriculture requires food to be shipped across the globe reducing the nutrient quality of the food, costing billions and impacting on the environment.

The food computers Harper has created works three to four times faster than conventional farming, and uses 50-70% less water.

It essentially builds climate recipes which can be sent from one food computer to the next.

"Think of it like a library full of books. You pull that digital book down, load it into the software and no matter where you are in the world that climate begins again," Harper explained.

Now What with Ryan Duffy is a HuffPost Original series looking at the most creative solutions to the world's biggest problems.

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