Plants

Let’s learn about the future of food

Technology and a warming world will change what you eat and how it gets to your plate

In the future, an array of technologies may help to bring tomatoes from farm to plate.

Kinwun/iStock/Getty Images Plus

By Sarah Zielinski

Do you know where your food comes from? Unless you’re growing it yourself, that can be a bit of a mystery. What’s more, as technology advances and the world gets warmer, what you’re eating today may not be what you eat in the future. Robots may harvest your food or toss your salad. For protein, you may be eating insects instead of cattle. And sorghum may become a familiar foodstuff.

Want to know more? We’ve got some stories to get you started:

Robots will control everything you eat: Technology is changing the way your food is grown — and prepared (1/25/2018) Readability: 6

Crickets for breakfast? Eating insects could improve your health (9/12/2018) Readability: 7.9

Get ready to eat differently in a warming world: Climate change is making crops less productive, foods less nutritious and farms weedier (5/23/2019) Readability: 6.8

Explore more

Cool Jobs: Finding foods for the future

Scientists Say: Metabolism

How to limit the need for pesticides (explainer)

Explainer: Taste and flavor are not the same

Word find

Feed the Fidgits! In this game from PBS Kids, you can design mini farms that use fish, pipes and water to grow food.

Power Words

More About Power Words

cattle: Also known as bovines (because they’re members of the subfamily known as Bovinae), these are breeds of livestock raised as a source of milk and meat. Although the adult females are known as cows and the males as bulls, many people refer to them all, generally, as cows.

climate: The weather conditions that typically exist in one area, in general, or over a long period.

climate change: Long-term, significant change in the climate of Earth. It can happen naturally or in response to human activities, including the burning of fossil fuels and clearing of forests.

crop: (in agriculture) A type of plant grown intentionally grown and nurtured by farmers, such as corn, coffee or tomatoes. Or the term could apply to the part of the plant harvested and sold by farmers. 

flavor: The particular mix of sensations that help people recognize something that has passed through the mouth. This is based largely on how a food or drink is sensed by cells in the mouth. It also can be influenced, to some extent, by its smell, look or texture.

insect: A type of arthropod that as an adult will have six segmented legs and three body parts: a head, thorax and abdomen. There are hundreds of thousands of insects, which include bees, beetles, flies and moths.

metabolism: (adj. metabolic)  The set of life-sustaining chemical reactions that take place inside cells and bigger structures, such as organs. These reactions enable organisms to grow, reproduce, move and otherwise respond to their environments.

pesticide: A chemical or mix of compounds used to kill insects, rodents or other organisms harmful to cultivated plants, pets or livestock; or unwanted organisms that infest homes, offices, farm buildings and other protected structures.

protein: A compound made from one or more long chains of amino acids. Proteins are an essential part of all living organisms. They form the basis of living cells, muscle and tissues; they also do the work inside of cells. Among the better-known, stand-alone proteins are the hemoglobin (in blood) and the antibodies (also in blood) that attempt to fight infections. Medicines frequently work by latching onto proteins.

robot: A machine that can sense its environment, process information and respond with specific actions. Some robots can act without any human input, while others are guided by a human.

taste: One of the basic properties the body uses to sense its environment, especially foods, using receptors (taste buds) on the tongue (and some other organs).

technology: The application of scientific knowledge for practical purposes, especially in industry — or the devices, processes and systems that result from those efforts.

About Sarah Zielinski

Sarah Zielinski is the Editor, Print at Science News Explores. She has degrees in biology and journalism and likes to write about ecology, plants and animals. She has three cats: Oscar, Saffir and Alani.

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