The fight against world hunger
During the kick-off of the "Center Farming" election course, the students learned, for example, that the "Food Computer" is an OpenSource project of MIT Media Labs. The so-called "Open Agriculture Initiative" (OpenAg for short), initiated within the framework of this project, has set itself the goal of ensuring a healthier and more profitable future for food systems. For this reason, a manual including a procurement list was published so that anyone could theoretically copy the "food computer". The idea is that the plants grow in a controlled and almost autonomous space, which means that strawberries could also be grown in the desert.
In addition, an exciting guest lecture by two members of the UN World Food Program (WFP) embedded the topic in a global context. Although most people in the western world are not really affected by hunger, almost 815 million people worldwide suffer from it. New technologies and approaches such as hydroponics could be a solution and have great potential. In the course of their presentation, the two WFP staff members also talked about fascinating projects in which farmers in remote regions of the world use the same technology to grow their products under extreme conditions.
Text: Elite Graduate Program "Honours Degree in Technology Management"