During the Industrial Revolution and the modern era, the world population increased from 600 million in 1700 to 8 billion in 2023 as economic output increased and sophisticated medicine became available. Due to tremendous economic and population growth, two additional agricultural revolutions took place to feed the expanding population. The British Agricultural Revolution of the 18th and 19th centuries used farm machinery, crop rotation, and commodity trading to increase agricultural productivity, and the Green Revolution of the mid-20th century used hybrid seeds and fossil-derived fertilisers and pesticides.
To feed the world’s expanding population, agricultural land (cultivated and pastureland) was increased from 1.1 billion ha in 1750 to 4.87 billion ha in 2016. This equates to about 50 percent of the world’s habitable land obtained by clearing forests and grasslands for agriculture. With increasing human prosperity, the demand for animal protein started increasing. Today, the total percentage of agricultural land, directly or indirectly, used for livestock production is about 77 percent while contributing to only 18 percent of the world calorie supply. Furthermore, biofuels have been gaining appeal as a sustainable and greener alternative to fossil fuels and presently account for 8 percent of global cultivated land and 11 percent of grain output. There is undoubtedly a tremendous strain on global land resources in order to attain food and energy security.
Biofuels have been gaining appeal as a sustainable and greener alternative to fossil fuels and presently account for 8 percent of global cultivated land and 11 percent of grain output.
The world population has expanded by a factor of four in the last century, reaching 8 billion, and is expected to reach 10.4 billion by 2080. This burgeoning population will need more calories, better nutrition, and protein from our increasingly strained resources. Smallholder farmers in Asia and Sub-Saharan Africa will play a critical role in solving future food demands, and there is a huge opportunity there to boost productivity and efficiency.
To make matters more daunting, we are facing a climate crisis. Due to the massive consumption of fossil fuels, the global temperature has been continuously rising since 1920, and the United Nations has been advocating awareness on environmental issues and the use of renewable energy since 1980. Meanwhile, countries like China and India emerged as economic powerhouses in the late 20th century and relied on readily available fossil fuels to supply their expanding energy needs. To avert further environmental damage, the world must migrate to alternate renewable energy sources as soon as possible. Furthermore, agriculture accounts for around 18.4 percent of worldwide CO2 emissions (14 percent in India), which has to be lowered through sustainable farming practices.
Smallholder farmers in Asia and Sub-Saharan Africa will play a critical role in solving future food demands, and there is a huge opportunity there to boost productivity and efficiency.
Agriculture can provide a solution to food and energy security while also protecting the environment. We are on the cusp of another agricultural revolution that will use digital and biotechnologies to maximise farm productivity in a sustainable manner.
It must be mentioned that renewable energy’s growth is debatable. The additional area needed for energy crops, infrastructure and transmission lines may harm the environment and local population further. Hence, the solution to food security and energy security has to be, and can be, achieved together.
India has around 179 million ha of cultivated land, accounting for more than 10 percent of the world’s cultivated area, with a cropping intensity of 1.41. When compared to the global average cropping intensity of 1.13, India farms 25 percent more land per year than its global peers. Low yields, on the other hand, lead to wasteful exploitation of Indian farmland, as seen in the comparison below. Furthermore, due to supply-demand mismatches and infrastructure challenges, India loses anywhere between 5-15 percent of its crops in the post-harvest value chain. On top of that, crop waste burning, and non-judicious application of chemical inputs have been causing serious damage to the environment.
Omnivore has backed a portfolio of agricultural startups to address many of these challenges and build the future of agriculture and food systems. Below are a few of the startups that are making agriculture, profitable, resilient and sustainable.
Omnivore has backed a portfolio of agricultural startups to address many of these challenges and build the future of agriculture and food systems.
Artificial Intelligence (AI)-enabled horticulture platform Fasal sells a plug-and-play farm sensor that analyses 18 different variables (weather, crop, soil etc.) to provide farmers with correct irrigation and predictive pest advisory, increasing farm productivity by 10 percent while reducing water and pesticide consumption by 20-40 percent, thereby lowering farming’s carbon footprint. Additionally, Fasal has saved 70 billion litres of water in its years of operation, which has had a huge environmental impact considering agriculture uses 80 percent of India’s surface water. Although India is a major producer of fruits and vegetables, our contribution to global fruit commerce is less than 1 percent due to food safety concerns. Fasal’s ability to reduce pesticide use boosts India’s export potential for sustainably farmed high-quality crops.
Niqo Robotics develops AI-powered spot-spray technology that sprays crop protection, fertilisers, and herbicides selectively at the plant level, reducing soil spraying. Crop protection and herbicide chemical use are reduced by 60 percent and 90 percent, respectively, using Niqo’s targeted spraying. This saves farmers money and dramatically reduces chemical exposure in the farm ecology.
Agrizy is creating a marketplace for agri-processing units in order to improve their capacity utilisation and suit the customised processing needs of end clients. India processes less than 10 percent of its agricultural output, with the vast majority of the processing being primary in nature. When compared to 40 percent in China, 70 percent in Brazil, and 80 percent in Malaysia, this figure appears little, resulting in substantial agricultural waste in India ranging from 5 percent to 15 percent across various commodities. Agrizy strives to expand the country’s whole agri-processing sector while also assisting in the reduction of food waste along the value chain.
India processes less than 10 percent of its agricultural output, with the vast majority of the processing being primary in nature.
Bioprime is an agribiotech firm that creates biological products from India’s massive flora and microbial population. India benefits geographically from 15 agroclimatic zones, each with its own variety of plants and microbes. SNIPR (for plants) and BioNexus (for microbes) platforms have been developed by Bioprime to investigate these living beings and synthesise signalling molecules for the development of bio-stimulants, bio-nutrition, and bio-control products. Their products have lowered farm chemical inputs by about 30 percent while improving plant health and pest resistance, leading to a 50 percent increase in output. Bioprime has lowered carbon footprints on farms and allowed farmers to grow more crops on the same land.
Loopworm is an alternative protein company that produces sustainable proteins from Black Soldier Fly larvae and Silkworm pupae for shrimp, fish, poultry, and pet food. Their products are intended to partially replace fish meal, krill meal, and soymeal. Fish meal and krill meal are made from oceanic fish such as sardines, mackerels, anchovies, krill, and squid, whereas soybeans and maize are cultivated on arable ground with potable water. Sustainable ingredients, such as insect proteins, can allow these natural resources to regenerate or be used directly as food for humans, resulting in a more sustainable food system. Also, entomophagy has recently gained popularity and given their low feed conversion ratio of about 1.7, insects could become a viable alternative source of animal protein for human consumption in the near future.
altM manufactures biomaterials at scale and assists industries in reducing their supply chain carbon footprints through industrial innovation. They are committed to developing high-value products by better utilising agricultural waste. Every year, India generates 350-990 million tonnes of farm waste, the majority of which is burned, causing environmental damage. AltM fractionally breaks down these lignocellulosic biomasses into cellulose, hemicellulose, silica, and lignin, which are subsequently converted into high-value products for the cosmetics, pharmaceutical, and packaging industries. This will help India reduce its imports of petrochemicals, imported wood-derived compounds, and biomaterials. The sector will benefit from some policy help in aggregating agri-waste raw materials from fragmented and dispersed rural farms.
Loopworm is an alternative protein company that produces sustainable proteins from Black Soldier Fly larvae and Silkworm pupae for shrimp, fish, poultry, and pet food.
Similarly, there are multiple other startups, along with the government and corporates, who are working in the agriculture sector trying to solve various issues.
However, there are certain challenges that startups are facing that require policy support.
We are sure these issues are solvable, but the process has to be sped up as it is becoming clear that agriculture is the key to our food security and, to an extent, our energy security as well. Agriculture is our soft power and has the potential to make India the breadbasket of the world. Therefore, it is imperative that the entire ecosystem comes together and makes this a reality.
Abhilash Sethi is the Investment Director at Omnivore.
Omnivore as an organisation aims to fund entrepreneurs who are building the future of agriculture and food systems
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