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COP28: 7 food and agriculture innovations needed to protect the climate and feed a rapidly growing world
(theconversation.com)
Innovations summarized:
- Accurate, accessible weather forecasts to help optimize planting and harvesting in mid/low-income regions
- Microbial fertilizers to reduce the need for nitrogen fertilizers
- Reducing or eliminating methane from livestock, which accounts for about 20% of human greenhouse gas emissions
- Helping farmers and communities implement better rainwater harvesting
- Lowering the cost of digital agriculture that can help farmers use irrigation, fertilizer and pesticides most efficiently
- Encouraging production of alternative proteins to reduce demand for livestock
- Providing insurance and other social protections to help farmers recover from extreme weather events
I would have liked to see more focus on finding ways to avoid monocropping, and a callout to the heavy risks of the steady corporate consolidation of the agriculture industry, but breaking up corporations isn't exactly an innovation so I can see why it wouldn't get a mention. Some of these seem fairly weak as innovations go, and some sound so inexpensive that it's a wonder they aren't already done, but all of them sound like decent steps to take.
Which among this list do you think governments should focus on the most?
The purpose of this plant is in fact not long-duration storage, but secondary functions as you mentioned, and it's also meant to be a proof-of-concept. Per an article from CNESA's English site when the plant's construction began in June 2023: