The world population is edifice toward 9 billion, our available country is shrinking, and our communities are growing more connected, leaving one increasingly of import global issue hanging above our heads: food security. Fortunately, engineering is assuasive us to runway, clarify, and empathise the style our nutrient arrangement works to assist reduce the amount of food waste and carbon emissions, and ultimately, feed the 842 million people who don't currently have enough to eat.

And food startups are leaving anybody salivating. Research from CB Insights showed that VC funding for food delivery companies was at an all-time high in the first quarter of 2014, hitting more than $200 million. But using smartphones to lodge Thai takeout at 11:00 p.m. is just the tip of the iceberg. Here are 10 ways tech is irresolute our nutrient and the way we discover, consume, and become rid of it.

SEE: Photos: How tech is shaping the time to come of nutrient

1. GMOs

The biotechnology used to create genetically modified organisms (GMO) is disquisitional in food technology, and also notorious. A GMO is something that has been genetically engineered to take certain traits, like herbicide resistance, pest resistance, and increased nutritional value. In 1994, the first modified love apple, the Flavr Savr, was canonical by the FDA and put on the market. It speedily led to the development of other seeds, and by 1999, i hundred million acres were farmed with genetically engineered crops.

In 1997, just 3 years afterward the first genetically modified nutrient hitting the grocery shelves, Europe made GMO labels mandatory, only the US still hasn't fabricated a federal regulation. Currently, in that location are crops in evolution that are genetically modified to abound in habitats besides their native ones, to increase yield productivity to feed more than people. Examples of this include wheat, rice, and other grains. Fish, poultry, and beefiness are also often modified to increase the quantity of meat by quickening the charge per unit of growth of an animal or by adding proteins or other nutrients to the meat.

2. Precision agriculture

Precision agronomics is often called satellite farming, and refers to the utilise of GPS tracking systems and satellite imagery to monitor ingather yields, soil levels, and weather patterns to increase efficiency on the farm. Precision technology is increasingly important as the issue of feeding 9 billion people by 2050 becomes more apparent. The technology was adopted in the early on 1990s, and started with ingather yield monitors. Now, there are tools such as weather analysis software and soil testing kits to monitor nitrogen and phosphorous levels.

Using these precision engineering science systems, farmers can pinpoint an exact location in a field to determine how productive the area is. Before, the unabridged field was treated as one unit, but at present, farmers can observe out which areas are more suitable for which crops so they don't waste material seed, fertilizer, or pesticides. It is also important from an environmental standpoint — farmers tin have more sustainable practices and utilize less resource such as water to tend their fields.

3. Drones

Farms often span large distances, and farmers need help to monitor the productivity of the areas. Drones are becoming a pop alternative to extra farm hands or satellites, and advanced technology is making the drones more than productive. With drones, farmers tin locate precisely where a diseased or damaged found is, more than accurately release fertilizer and pesticides, or take photos and have firsthand information virtually a sure area of the farm.

A report released in March past the Association for Unmanned Vehicle Systems International said that drones could create 70,000 jobs afterward the Federal Aviation Administration approves commercial drones. Just in farming, drones may replace more jobs than they create.

4. Internet of Things

Sensors are (and will continue to be) very of import to food technology. The Cyberspace of Things has already come to the farm in the forms of irrigation technologies, ingather yield monitoring. A system called WaterBee collects data on soil content and other ecology factors using wireless sensors to reduce water waste.

Sensors in grain bins allow farmers to monitor the temperature and moisture levels remotely. John Deere added sensors to some of its equipment to monitor soil wet or productivity to increase or decrease speed or forbid overlap of fertilizer or seed. Another example of IoT use on farms is Z-Trap, a device used to monitor insects and clarify data on crops remotely using GPS coordinates and wireless sensors. The base of operations station targets specific destructive bug species, but the tool has its own communication network between all the traps on a certain field and uploads the data to a cloud.

5. Food waste tracking

Nosotros know that xl% of America's nutrient is thrown away each year. With the assist of social media and new applied science, this number tin can be drastically reduced. Strides are being fabricated with apps and spider web platforms to put the food to practiced apply. Leloca is an app that helps restaurants minimize waste by allowing people to become deals on food (ranging from 30 to 50% off commonly) inside 45 minutes of a posting at nearby restaurants. Another app, 222 Meg Tons, gives a suggested grocery list with a user's selected household size and meal preferences. A particularly innovative platform called LeftoverSwap matches people with leftover nutrient to others in their area who would like to buy cheap food and choice it upward, and they offer anything from pizza to produce.

6. Hackathons

Food-centric hackathons are popping up around the globe to improve the food industry. It is a move that is gaining traction. Food+Tech Connect held the first nutrient hackathon, and continues to host them annually, including ones that have tackled the Farm Bill, and the meat and restaurant industries. The Hereafter of Food Hackathon and Forum is an assembly of the leading food innovators, chefs, entrepreneurs, and designers to create solutions for the time to come of food. The Rural Advocacy Foundation International and Farm Hack, an open source community for agronomics projects that lists local hackathons and innovations, have launched a collaborative entrada on Kickstarter for Growing Innovation, an online customs to share agricultural innovations and maps of sustainable farms.

7. 3D printing

The idea of 3D printed food isn't exactly mouth-watering, but the technology stands to disrupt the food manufacture on at least some level. Right now, the nearly talked-about 3D printed food is 3D Systems' candy, which is made of pure sugar with the ChefJet, but the leader in the 3D printer industry recently teamed up with Hershey's to print chocolate. Startups similar Modern Meadow are trying to save cows and aid reduce carbon emissions by creating meatless meat. NASA used a 3D printer to make a pizza, possibly a step forward for astronaut meals in space. The Foodini is a 3D printer designed for the home kitchen. The user prepares the ingredients with a food processor or blender, and the 3D printer tin print shapes out of the mix. It's meant to take out the time-consuming process of making things by hand. The Foodini has created food items such as burgers, pizza, and desserts.

8. Farm locations

As farmland becomes less available, we must come up upward with innovative places to grow nutrient. The latest trend is hole-and-corner; in London, a hydroponic farm was built in abandoned underground tunnels that were one time air-raid shelters, so that local restaurants and stores tin have fresh produce and herbs. Hydroponic technology is growing in popularity because food tin can be grown without soil using a food-rich h2o solution. Philips is working on creating special LED bulbs that produce specific wavelengths to accordingly grow plants indoors for Greenish Sense Farms in Chicago, which is a one-meg cubic foot growing space. Since LED bulbs don't get hot, they tin sit closer to the plants and can produce lights particular to dissimilar species of crops.

SEE: How large data is going to feed 9 billion people by 2050

nine. Access to recipes

AllRecipes has been around for many years, and the platform is extraordinarily popular. In 2012, on its 15th anniversary, the site conducted a survey, asking users questions about their apply for their recipe services. It institute, of class, that our smartphones and tablets are changing the way we gear up and cook food. More than a tertiary of respondents said they use phones to look upwardly recipes and cooking techniques, co-ordinate to the survey.

Recipe sites accept well surpassed cookbooks and magazine recipes in usage. From gluten-free to vegan to paleo, we can find guidelines for just about any type of diet or lifestyle on the internet today. With blogs, Pinterest, nutrient-axial Twitter accounts, and Facebook groups, sharing recipes beyond borders has never been easier. And with video sites like YouTube, nosotros tin can learn how to chop upward an artichoke in a thing of four minutes.

ten. Promoting local food

The farm-to-fork movement is strong. People want to know where their food comes from, and every bit industrial agronomics, GMOs, hormones, and carbon emissions become increasingly apropos, it becomes more important to know the lifecycle of nutrient. Websites like Farmigo offer a identify for people to discover local harvest from farmers in their region, creating an online farmer's market community, of sorts. Farm to Table is a spider web service that distributes locally grown produce, grass-fed beef, and muzzle-gratuitous chickens to restaurants, contained grocery stores, and cafeterias. There are profiles of the farmers and the farms they tend, as well equally detailed descriptions of the food that is available for buy. The company is based in Austin, Texas, only services like these are growing around the country.