A forgotten Space Age technology could change how we grow food

We're heading for a world population of 10 billion people -- but what will we all eat? Lisa Dyson rediscovered an idea developed by NASA in the 1960s for deep-space travel, and it could be the key to reinventing how we grow food.

Imagine you are a part
of a crew of astronauts

traveling to Mars or some distant planet.

The travel time could take a year

or even longer.

The space on board and the resources

would be limited.

So you and the crew would have
to figure out how to produce food

with minimal inputs.

What if you could bring with you
just a few packets of seeds,

and grow crops in a matter of hours?

And what if those crops
would then make more seeds,

enabling you to feed the entire crew

with just those few packets of seeds
for the duration of the trip?

Well, the scientists at NASA actually
figured out a way to do this.

What they came up with
was actually quite interesting.

It involved microorganisms,

which are single-celled organisms.

And they also used hydrogen from water.

The types of microbes that they used
were called hydrogenotrophs,

and with these hydrogenotrophs,
you can create a virtuous carbon cycle

that would sustain life
onboard a spacecraft.

Astronauts would breathe out
carbon dioxide,

that carbon dioxide would then
be captured by the microbes

and converted into a nutritious,
carbon-rich crop.

The astronauts would then eat
that carbon-rich crop

and exhale the carbon out
in the form of carbon dioxide,

which would then be captured
by the microbes,

to create a nutritious crop,

which then would be exhaled
in the form of carbon dioxide

by the astronauts.

So in this way, a closed-loop
carbon cycle is created.

So why is this important?

We need carbon to survive as humans,

and we get our carbon from food.

On a long space journey,

you simply wouldn't be able to pick up
any carbon along the way,

so you'd have to figure out
how to recycle it on board.

This is a clever solution, right?

But the thing is, that research
didn't really go anywhere.

We haven't yet gone to Mars.
We haven't yet gone to another planet.

And this was actually done
in the '60s and '70s.

So a colleague of mine,
Dr. John Reed, and I,

were interested, actually,
in carbon recycling here on Earth.

We wanted to come up
with technical solutions

to address climate change.

And we discovered this research

by reading some papers published
in the '60s -- 1967 and later --

articles about this work.

And we thought it was a really good idea.

So we said, well, Earth
is actually like a spaceship.

We have limited space
and limited resources,

and on Earth, we really do
need to figure out

how to recycle our carbon better.

So we had the idea,

can we take some of these
NASA-type ideas and apply them

to our carbon problem here on Earth?

Could we cultivate
these NASA-type microbes

in order to make
valuable products here on Earth?

We started a company to do it.

And in that company, we discovered
that these hydrogenotrophs --

which I'll actually call
nature's supercharged carbon recyclers --

we found that they are a powerful
class of microbes

that had been largely overlooked
and understudied,

and that they could make
some really valuable products.

So we began cultivating these products,
these microbes, in our lab.

We found that we can make
essential amino acids from carbon dioxide

using these microbes.

And we even made a protein-rich meal

that has an amino acid profile
similar to what you might find

in some animal proteins.

We began cultivating them even further,

and we found that we can make oil.

Oils are used to manufacture
many products.

We made an oil that was similar
to a citrus oil,

which can be used for flavoring
and for fragrances,

but it also can be used
as a biodegradable cleaner

or even as a jet fuel.

And we made an oil
that's similar to palm oil.

Palm oil is used to manufacture

a wide range of consumer
and industrial goods.

We began working with manufacturers
to scale up this technology,

and we're currently working with them

to bring some of these products to market.

We believe this type of technology
can indeed help us

profitably recycle carbon dioxide
into valuable products --

something that's beneficial
for the planet

but also beneficial for business.

That's what we're doing today.

But tomorrow, this type of technology
and using these types of microbes

actually could help us
do something even greater

if we take it to the next level.

We believe that this type of technology

can actually help us address
an issue with agriculture

and allow us to create
a type of agriculture that's sustainable,

that will allow us to scale
to meet the demands of tomorrow.

And why might we need
a sustainable agriculture?

Well, actually, it is estimated

that the population will reach
about 10 billion by 2050,

and we're projecting that we will need
to increase food production

by 70 percent.

In addition, we will need many more
resources and raw materials

to make consumer goods
and industrial goods.

So how will we scale to meet that demand?

Well, modern agriculture simply cannot
sustainably scale to meet that demand.

There are a number of reasons why.

One of them is that modern agriculture
is one of the largest emitters

of greenhouse gases.

In fact, it emits more greenhouse gases

than our cars, our trucks, our planes

and our trains combined.

Another reason is that modern ag
simply takes up a whole lot of land.

We have cleared 19.4 million square miles
for crops and livestock.

What does that look like?

Well, that's roughly the size
of South America and Africa combined.

Let me give you a specific example.

In Indonesia, an amount
of virgin rainforest was cleared

totaling the size
of approximately Ireland,

between 2000 and 2012.

Just think of all
of the species, the diversity,

that was removed in the process,

whether plant life, insects
or animal life.

And a natural carbon sink
was also removed.

So let me make this real for you.

This clearing happened primarily
to make room for palm plantations.

And as I mentioned before,

palm oil is used
to manufacture many products.

In fact, it is estimated
that over 50 percent of consumer products

are manufactured using palm oil.

And that includes things
like ice cream, cookies ...

It includes cooking oils.

It also includes detergents,
lotions, soaps.

You and I both
probably have numerous items

in our kitchens and our bathrooms

that were manufactured using palm oil.

So you and I are direct beneficiaries
of removed rainforests.

Modern ag has some problems,

and we need solutions
if we want to scale sustainably.

I believe that microbes
can be a part of the answer --

specifically, these supercharged
carbon recyclers.

These supercharged carbon recyclers,

like plants, serve as
the natural recyclers

in their ecosystems where they thrive.

And they thrive in exotic places on Earth,

like hydrothermal vents and hot springs.

In those ecosystems,
they take carbon and recycle it

into the nutrients needed
for those ecosystems.

And they're rich in nutrients,

such as oils and proteins,
minerals and carbohydrates.

And actually, microbes are already
an integral part of our everyday lives.

If you enjoy a glass of pinot noir
on a Friday night,

after a long, hard work week,

then you are enjoying
a product of microbes.

If you enjoy a beer
from your local microbrewery --

a product of microbes.

Or bread, or cheese, or yogurt.

These are all products of microbes.

But the beauty and power associated
with these supercharged carbon recyclers

lies in the fact that they can
actually produce in a matter of hours

versus months.

That means we can make crops

much faster than we're making them today.

They grow in the dark,

so they can grow in any season

and in any geography and any location.

They can grow in containers
that require minimal space.

And we can get to a type
of vertical agriculture.

Instead of our traditional
horizontal agriculture

that requires so much land,

we can scale vertically,

and as a result
produce much more product per area.

If we implement this type of approach
and use these carbon recyclers,

then we wouldn't have to remove
any more rainforests

to make the food and the goods
that we consume.

Because, at a large scale,

you can actually make 10,000 times
more output per land area

than you could -- for instance,
if you used soybeans --

if you planted soybeans
on that same area of land

over a period of a year.

Ten thousand times
over a period of a year.

So this is what I mean
by a new type of agriculture.

And this is what I mean
by developing a system

that allows us to sustainably scale
to meet the demands of 10 billion.

And what would be the products
of this new type of agriculture?

Well, we've already made a protein meal,

so you can imagine something
similar to a soybean meal,

or even cornmeal, or wheat flour.

We've already made oils,

so you can imagine something
similar to coconut oil

or olive oil or soybean oil.

So this type of crop can
actually produce the nutrients

that would give us pasta and bread,

cakes, nutritional items of many sorts.

Furthermore, since oil is used
to manufacture multiple other goods,

industrial products and consumer products,

you can imagine being able to make
detergents, soaps, lotions, etc.,

using these types of crops.

Not only are we running out of space,

but if we continue to operate
under the status quo

with modern agriculture,

we run the risk of robbing our progeny
of a beautiful planet.

But it doesn't have to be this way.

We can imagine a future of abundance.

Let us create systems that keep
planet Earth, our spaceship,

not only from not crashing,

but let us also develop systems
and ways of living

that will be beneficial
to the lives of ourselves

and the 10 billion that will
be on this planet by 2050.

Thank you very much.

(Applause)