IEEE Spectrum June, 2013 - 1

SPECIAL REPORT

ThE AgE
Of PLEnTy

stylist: Dominique Baynes; FooD stylist: Carol laDD

25

There's a
surging current
of alarm that
we're headed for a food
doomsday by 2050-
that the world's foodproducing capacity will
crash before population
peaks at 10 billion.
Don't you believe it!
Smart technology and
better management and
policies will let us feed
the hungry hordes to
midcentury and beyond.

26 Why the Pessimists
Are Wrong

48 An Industrial Revolution
in genetics

Innovation-on the ground, in
every land-will enable farmers
to feed the world's growing
population. By Keith Fuglie

Plant breeders are using software
and robots to engineer the next
generation of supercrops.
By Samuel K. Moore
& Eliza Strickland

34 Everything you
Always Wanted to Know
About Big Ag
A couple of dozen companies grow,
process, and ship half the crops on
this planet. By Paul Wallich

37 The Energy to Create
your food
Not all foods are created equal,
especially when it comes to energy.
By Brandon Keim

38 farming by the numbers
Precision farming technologies
are bringing agriculture into the
information age. By Ariel Bleicher

46 I Spy Thy Rye
Remote sensing can help predict
where the next famine will occur.
By Dave Levitan

72 Tracking Every Tomato
Radio tags and sensors can bring
new analytics to food safety.
By Eliza Strickland

74 Waste not, Want not
A little company is digging into the
mountainous food waste problem.
By Tekla S. Perry

56 Why Africa Can feed
Itself-and help feed
the World Too

76 IBM's Taste Master

Fourteen ways that the sub-Sahara
is stepping up its food production.
By G. Pascal Zachary

58 The Indoor farm
In St. Paul, Minn., Urban Organics is
growing fish to grow greens in one
of the biggest indoor aquaponics
farms in the country.
By Harry Goldstein

Cognitive computing gets creative
in the kitchen. By Valerie Ross

78 Tasty Morxels
Food compositors, evolved
from printing technology, will
revolutionize food production,
storage, and distribution.
By Nathan Myhrvold
& Pablos Holman

88 Dataflow: Big fridge Is
Watching you

64 Muscling Out Meat
New extrusion techniques are
producing fake meats that have the
taste and texture of the real thing.
By Glenn Zorpette

The Internet of Things will mean
healthier eating and less waste.
By Stephen Cass

ON THE COVER AND ABOVE Photograph for IEEE Spectrum by Dan Saelinger

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Table of Contents for the Digital Edition of IEEE Spectrum June, 2013

IEEE Spectrum June, 2013 - Cover1
IEEE Spectrum June, 2013 - Cover2
IEEE Spectrum June, 2013 - 1
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IEEE Spectrum June, 2013 - Cover3
IEEE Spectrum June, 2013 - Cover4
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