Nanotechnology And Nutrition

Producing more food with less resources

This article will touch a sensitive topic for organizations working on food and agribusiness integrated production chains. I will present the "Efficiency-Driven Agribusiness (EDA) Model", built upon in depth discussions (two workshops) with global agribusiness leaders, CEO's of companies operating in several world food markets. It is conceptualized in a need of producing more food and bioenergy to a growing world facing scarce basic resources, as water, land, fertilizers and others needed for food production. It is designed for the era of "doing more with less".

The EDA model considers 8 major areas where efficiency should be pursued. After each area, several topics will appear as a working list or targets to be achieved by business people, public policies maker and mostly, by scientists.

Land use and management (1): we need to increase land productivity; shorten plant production cycles; increase efficiency in land operation and management; search for lower environmental impact technologies (recycle, synergies among food chains, energy savings technology); have more efficient and conservative soil operations; have localized and adapted solutions and use renewable energy sources (produced locally) for fueling agricultural activities.

Plant production (2): develop technologies to release more of the potential of the grains contents (energy, protein); precision plant nutrition avoiding losses in the process; plants more efficient to use and transform the resources into production (water, sun, nutrients) and plants much more resistant to adverse conditions (diseases, droughts and other damages).

Animal Production (3): research for better understanding of the nutritional requirements for all species; technologies to increase productivity of raw materials as feed; thinking in productivity per hectare (protein per hectare); alternative programs for disease control and the need to better understand microbial processes (pathogens, micro-bios) and the environmental and health consequences; added value via nutraceuticals, natural medicine and health joined with nutrition; search for alternative proteins like algae; identify cost-efficient alternatives to antibiotics; micro-encapsulation for controlled release of nutrition; animal welfare management and genetic development for sex selection (example: only female layer chicks would reduce cost and improve animal welfare), among others, are topics to be pursued at animal production.

US: Scientists utilizing nanotechnology to improve the food safety ...

Nanotechnology is the understanding and control of miniscule atoms and molecules called nanoparticles. A nanoparticle is between 1 and 1,000 nanometers; a single nanometer is one-billionth of a meter. The science is currently being used in engineering, manufacturing, medicine, and most notably, in the delivery of cancer fighting drugs to hard-to-reach tumors. Food scientists hope to harness nanotechnology to improve food design, processing, protection and convenience, said Cristina Sabliov, associate professor in the Biological and Engineering Department at Louisiana State University. Food producers also hope to extract, deliver and control the release of important nutrients, and even mask their unpleasant taste.

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