Megatrends
1. Climate change
11 Megatrends: Climate change directly affects agriculture. Storms and droughts reduce yields. The amount of usable land is decreasing due to salinisation and desertification, and warming is changing the vegetation.
2. Resource scarcity
11 Megatrends: Limited resources are the basis and driver of economic activity. The scarcity of resources demands efficiency. Particularly in agriculture and the food industry, input and output must be in balance; the motto is "grow more with less".
3. Ecology
11 Megatrends: Ecology is not a niche, but a broad trend. It is becoming a social movement and a central economic factor. Ecological behaviour demands science-based, comprehensive sustainability.
4. Knowledge society
11 Megatrends: The world is getting smarter. The level of education is rising globally, creating the conditions for a knowledge society. Knowledge is available at all times and can be accessed digitally.
5. Health
11 Megatrends: Health awareness is becoming a driver in society. It has great charisma. Health is becoming a goal in life and stands for quality of life.
6. Digitalisation
11 Megatrends: Digitalisation is not stopping at the agriculture and food industry. Research is increasingly based on mathematical models. From new breeding methods to drones and hacking robots, many new technologies are based on digital systems.
7. Connectivity
11 Megatrends: Based on digital transport infrastructures, connectivity is causing a profound change. With connectivity, the world is becoming a global village. Global economic structures and social exchange are gaining importance.
8. Demography
11 Megatrends: The world population is growing. By 2050, the UN expects the world to be home to 9.7 billion people. In addition, people are getting older and older. All of them will have to be fed.
9. Urbanisation
11 Megatrends: Globally, urbanisation is occurring at a breathtaking pace. The United Nations estimates that by 2050, around 70 percent of people will live in cities. Many of these cities are so-called megacities with more than 10 million inhabitants.
10. Globalisation
11 Megatrends: Globalisation describes the growing together of the world's population and economic systems. Everything becomes simultaneous and influences each other. The division of labour and the exchange of ideas and goods is increasing.
11. Multipolar world
11 Megatrends: After the end of the Cold War, the USA and the West dominated. But the world is changing. China and, by far, India are becoming economic heavyweights and power blocs.
The search for the egg of the future
Boiled, stirred, fried: Eggs are not only popular at Easter. At the same time, there is increasing interest in alternatives to the animal protein products that are common in our country. The search for new protein sources therefore does not stop at chicken eggs. The "egg substitute" can come from exotic jellyfish, as well as from a wide variety of plant sources. The result: The demand for protein-rich crops is growing.
Global facts on world food and agriculture
Only thanks to technological progress and modern crop protection will we be able to conserve our resources in the future and at the same time feed more and more people in a healthy way.
Ten applications of new breeding technologies for Switzerland
The summer of 2021 has shown how damaging prolonged rain can be for crops. With climate change, the likelihood of extreme weather events will increase. Farmers therefore need improved plant varieties that can withstand heat but also a lot of moisture.
The Future of Agriculture and Climate Change
All around the world, we see and feel the effects of climate change on our lives. While it impacts everyone, agriculture is one of the sectors that is at the forefront of climate change – contributing to greenhouse gas emissions and at the same time coping with growing our food under increasingly challenging conditions. So, how can we address climate change and take action that makes an impact?
Can nutrition be healthy and sustainable at the same time?
Is there a menu plan that is good for our bodies and sustainable at the same time? The answer is yes, but it is also complex. This is the result of research on the online portal “Heidi.news” and the “Sonntagszeitung”.
Insects: The protein source of tomorrow?
Insects have long been considered the superfood of the future. They are rich in protein, require less land and water, and have a better carbon footprint than conventional meat.
Sustainable nutrition with algae
The greatest challenge facing today's agriculture industry is to produce healthy foods that do not place undue stress on the planet. Algae could one day represent an important piece of the puzzle in food production.
Does the world even need genome-edited plants?
This question is often raised by opponents of modern breeding methods. As is almost always the case: The market provides an answer. And it looks pretty clear.
11 Megatrends: "Avalanches in slow motion"
The world is changing. The complexity is great and that makes it difficult to keep track in everyday life. Megatrends provide orientation here. They outline the main lines of change.
From stem cell to steak
Meat production consumes a lot of resources. And for a wide variety of reasons, people are eating less meat or even giving it up entirely. A growing number of companies are therefore looking into alternative methods of producing meat – for example, in a lab.
Climate change requires precision cultivation
We need robust new crop varieties to protect harvests against invasive pests. Innovative methods, such as precision cultivation using gene editing, can help plant breeding keep pace with climate change.
Drought-tolerant maize as a response to climate change
Climate change poses increasing challenges for agriculture. Plant breeding is therefore working at full speed to develop varieties with better resistance to environmental stress.
Content in German
COVID-19 triggers a boom in functional food
During the COVID-19 crisis, demand for functional food and nutritional supplements has grown worldwide. Consumers have become more conscious of the importance of healthy nutrition.
Optimising nature
The romanticized conception of “natural” is deceptive. Very little of what we eat today developed naturally. “For 12,000 years, people have selected plants based on their characteristics, in an effort to make them edible and more productive,” says Bruno Studer, professor of Molecular Plant Breeding at ETH Zurich. Agriculture has developed through artificial selection.
Finally, a golden age for golden rice
The World Health Organization (WHO) estimates that worldwide, as many as 500,000 children go blind every year due to a lack of vitamin A. Roughly half of them die within 12 months of losing their sight. This miserable situation could be greatly eased if the affected children had access to an inexpensive, everyday food containing an adequate amount of vitamin A.