Can Artificial Intelligence Help Food Security?

2023-08-05 12:45:00, Tech CNA

Bananas resistant to climate change, rice that requires little water, or potatoes that withstand diseases or insects. Food production puts a lot of strain on the environment. In addition, the decline in production due to severe storms, droughts and heat waves due to climate change makes it necessary in the future for plants to be even more productive to provide food for the earth's growing population. and able to withstand extreme climate conditions

Therefore, as a report by the World Resources Institute (WRI) shows, our society is faced with a dilemma. Man must produce food for the world's population, without using other resources or other lands. "To feed people enough, in 2050 we will need to produce 50 percent more food than we do now," says Janet Ranganathan, a food expert at the aforementioned WRI institute and co-author of the report.

Can Artificial Intelligence Help Food Security?

Most of the world's agricultural land is used for meat production, that is, for growing animal feed. We would be able to produce food for all people and produce sustainably if this land area and other resources were used to produce plant-based food and if all the people of the world were vegetarians. But this does not seem to happen.

But, if we remain at the amount produced now and continue like this, then the only possibility to cover the needs of the future will be the much larger expansion of agricultural surfaces.

"And that means we will eventually have to disconnect from the remaining natural ecosystems," Ranganathan says further.

Are there drought tolerant rice varieties?

To prevent this, scientists want with the help of Artificial Intelligence and genetic grafting, CRISPR-CAS9, to develop supercultures that are resistant to climate change, bring more production and need less resources to cultivate. For this, they change the genes of the plant with a method called genetic grafting.

Can Artificial Intelligence Help Food Security?

For example for rice. Everywhere, whether in Italy, China or Pakistan, extreme droughts in large parts of the world cause huge losses in rice production. This poses a problem for rice, which is a very thirsty plant that usually floats in water. A new type of rice can help with this. The new rice is called IR64, it is produced mainly in the south of the globe, among others in India, Indonesia, Mauritania, Mozambique, Vietnam and the Sahel area of ??West Africa, but it is sold all over the world.

By changing the rice gene, it has been possible to turn the plant into a drought-resistant plant. In certain weeks, the mother plant needs 40 percent less water than before. And while the previous rice plant withered after a week without water, half of the genetically altered plant continued to live.

Genetic grafting: Revolution or danger?

Genetic correction is completely different from traditional genetic techniques. It is based on a natural process. But it makes mutations less arbitrary, says Detlef Weigel, a biologist at the Max-Plank Association.

Most genetically engineered products, animals and plants have an artificial gene or the gene of another organism inserted. For example, insect-resistant cotton or corn contain a gene that originates from a bacterium.

Instead of using foreign DNA, genetic editing can change an organism's genetic code using its own DNA. By means of special enzymes that work like a kind of scissors, we can turn off the plant's genes, exchange them or repeat them. It would take tens of generations for this single gene to be transmitted by natural crossing."

Can Artificial Intelligence Help Food Security?

"And it often doesn't work anymore, because it takes a long time. That's why genetic correction is very effective because one only goes to this gene, changes it and Voila!", explains Weigel.

While crossbreeding can take more than ten years to get the desired result, genetic correction takes only a few months and the testing phase takes only a few years.

Risk and hype – are "smart bananas" a good idea?

And it's not just drought-tolerant rice. Some studies show how tomato production can be increased by 70 percent. Others try to grow soybeans in barren, salty soil, or reduce methane emissions from rice. Meanwhile, Kenyan scientists are developing the "smart banana", as they call it. They have managed to activate in the laboratory a gene that strengthens the immune system of the banana plant to preemptively fight a virus that becomes active when there is a drought.

Can Artificial Intelligence Help Food Security?

However, the surface gloss of a method as if it is risk-free and safe is not true. Many plants are still in the study phase and the state of the data is very poor. This is a dangerous experiment with nature, criticize opponents of genetic research.

Some experts point to cases where genetic changes have occurred without being intended, or cases where genetic information has been erased more than planned.

Likewise, genes that contribute to increased production in certain periods of drought cause a decrease in production in wet years. And since a large number of genes are involved in this characteristic, it is often not enough to simply activate or deactivate one or two genes.

Can artificial intelligence help?

The less a culture has improved before, the easier it is to improve now. Therefore, the greatest potential for development with CRISPR lies in old species that have not yet been cultivated and propagated industrially. For example millet or einkorn wheat - triticum monoccum a primitive variety of wheat - are by nature more resistant to climate change, but research is still in its infancy.

Can Artificial Intelligence Help Food Security?

"We can get these plants to be more agronomic and thus we can diversify our food," explains William Pelton, executive director at Phytoform, a start-up company.

Using artificial intelligence, Phytoform tries to spot even more improvement opportunities in genes. Their algorithms can process in a short time data that would take a human years to process. Technology has advanced so far that today some algorithms understand DNA data much better than humans.

"Artificial intelligence can identify which segments of DNA are repeated in order to infer their significance," says Pelton. "And that means not only understanding the DNA but also suggesting changes that could be made." to influence the result obtained."

Phytoform is currently working with the potato, which turns black when injured. In this way, fewer edible potatoes will be thrown away. They are also working with lupins. A culture that has been used for thousands of years, but is hardly found on the market today.

Lupins are rich in protein and very nutritious and can be used instead of meat. Phytoform's algorithms must now figure out how to increase the production of this plant and how to solve quality problems. This company hopes to release the first cultivated plants on the market within two to three years.

The world prepares for genetic transplants

All over the world, research has begun with genetically modified plants. In 2011, only a few patents were registered, but in 2019, the number of registered patents reached almost 2000. Most of them are for private firms or public institutions engaged in research.

The USA, China, but also multinational companies invest a lot in technologies based on which a multi-billion dollar market can be developed by the end of this decade. In the EU, genetically modified crops are considered genetically modified, therefore they are under strong legal regulations. However, discussions are being held as to whether the setting as altered by genetic technology is appropriate. People who are in favor of genetic grafting say that it is more of a new method of grafting than classic genetic manipulation.

Can Artificial Intelligence Help Food Security?

In the US, China and many Latin American countries, genetically modified plants are not considered genetically modified and are not controlled as such, and this sector will bring a number of plants to market next year. India has also decided this year to boost its progress. However developed this method is, conventional cultivation will continue to play an important role. But neither one nor the other method will be able to compensate the huge load on our ecological systems. Even if they contribute to providing food./ DW