How can we facilitate the development of innovations for the future of sustainable agriculture?

We live in a time of unprecedented food production, yet paradoxically the unsustainable practices in which we produce this food threatens future global food security [1,2]. As the globe's population continues to increase towards 2050, the world's food systems will be pushed further to their limits of production [3]. It is critical that scientists and engineers work together now to produce a truly sustainable food system so that we may maintain an acceptable standard of living for humans across
the globe for the near future.

Automation has often been incorporated into industries to increase the efficiency of processes [4]. In the food system, this has the potential to improve the sustainability of a variety of practices [5]. Currently developed innovations of note are limited to the agricultural industry in practices such as factory farming and precision agriculture [6,7].

This project will establish potential roles for automation in the wide scope of the future food system in a way that will improve sustainability. This will be accomplished through assessment of existing and novel research to identify entry points for sustainable automated technologies. A proof of concept which satisfies one of these identified roles will then be developed. This prototype an research will then be reviewed to determine the steps that must be taken for the future development and immediate implementation of similar sustainable automated technologies.