Agriculture is the cultivation of biological systems for uses that sustain and enhance human life.

Before humans discovered agriculture, we were hunters and gatherers. We did not regularly plant crops to produce food. Instead, we collected wild plants, hunted animals, and moved to wherever food was available.

Agriculture changed this relationship.

Instead of finding food in nature, humans began controlling where food grew. We selected plants with useful traits, planted seeds near settlements, removed competing plants, and protected crops from animals.

Agriculture was one of the first large attempts by humans to control a biological system.

Controlling the Environment

A farmer cannot completely control a field.

The farmer does not control when it rains, how hot the summer becomes, which insects arrive, or whether a disease appears. The farmer works inside a biological system that is influenced by weather, soil, animals, microorganisms, and chance.

Most improvements in agriculture have increased the amount of control farmers have over this system.

Irrigation gives crops water when rainfall is not enough.

Synthetic fertilizers provide nutrients when the soil cannot provide enough.

Herbicides reduce competition from unwanted plants.

Pesticides protect crops from insects and other organisms.

Greenhouses protect plants from cold weather and allow farmers to control temperature, humidity, and water.

Each of these technologies removes part of the uncertainty from agriculture.

A crop that once depended entirely on rain can now receive water through irrigation. A plant that could only grow during one season can be grown inside a greenhouse. A field that might lose much of its harvest to insects can be protected.

Modern agriculture is not simply producing more food. It is producing more control over the biological system that creates the food.

A Field Is an Uncontrolled Environment

A field may appear organized. The crops are planted in rows. The plants are the same species and often the same variety. Machines move through the field in predictable patterns.

But the environment is still difficult to control.

Rain may come at the wrong time.

The soil may contain too little nitrogen.

An insect population may increase.

A fungus may spread between plants.

A late frost may damage flowers before fruit develops.

A heat wave may prevent seeds from forming.

Farmers use technology to reduce these risks, but the field remains exposed to the larger environment.

This creates a possible direction for the future of agriculture: move the biological system into a more controlled environment.

We have already started this trend.

From Fields to Greenhouses

A greenhouse separates plants from part of the outside environment.

The temperature can be controlled. Water can be delivered directly to the roots. Insects can be kept outside. Light can sometimes be added when sunlight is limited.

Hydroponic systems take this idea further.

Instead of growing plants in soil, the plants receive water containing carefully measured nutrients. The grower can control how much water, nitrogen, phosphorus, potassium, and other nutrients the plant receives.

Indoor farms move the system even further from the field.

Plants can be grown under artificial lights inside buildings. Temperature, humidity, airflow, water, nutrients, and light can all be adjusted.

This requires more technology and energy, but it also creates more control.

A drought outside does not have to cause a drought inside.

Winter does not have to stop production.

The crop does not have to be grown near the people who will eat it.

The farm becomes less like an open field and more like a biological factory.

The Limits of Crop Yield

There is a limit to how much food a plant can produce.

A plant receives energy from light. It uses that energy to grow roots, stems, leaves, flowers, fruit, and seeds. It also uses energy to protect itself from insects, diseases, heat, cold, and competition.

Humans have spent thousands of years selecting plants that put more of their energy into the parts we want.

Wild plants may produce small seeds that easily fall to the ground. Agricultural plants may produce larger seeds that remain on the plant until harvest.

Wild fruit may be small, bitter, or filled with seeds. Cultivated fruit may be larger, sweeter, and easier to eat.

But breeding cannot increase yields forever.

Eventually, a crop approaches its biological limits. There is only so much sunlight available. There is only so much carbon dioxide a plant can absorb. There is only so efficiently the plant can convert those resources into food.

When the theoretical limit of crop yield is reached, we will need to find new and more efficient ways to fulfill our needs.

One possibility is to improve the environment around the organism.

Another possibility is to change the organism.

A third possibility is to stop growing the entire organism when we only need one part of it.

Growing Meat Without the Animal

An example of this trend is Memphis Meats, a startup created to grow meat from cultured animal cells instead of raising and slaughtering entire animals.

Normally, producing meat requires growing an animal.

The animal needs food, water, land, shelter, and medical care. Much of the energy consumed by the animal does not become meat. The animal uses energy to grow bones, organs, skin, hair, and other tissues. It uses energy to walk, breathe, maintain its body temperature, and remain alive.

But consumers are normally interested in only part of the animal.

They want the muscle and fat that become meat.

Cultivated meat asks a simple question:

Why grow the entire animal when we only want some of its cells?

Cells can be collected from an animal and placed in an environment containing the nutrients they need. The cells reproduce and form tissue. Instead of controlling a field or a barn, producers control the conditions surrounding the cells.

This is agriculture moved into a much more controlled environment.

Is Cultivated Meat Still Agriculture?

Agriculture normally makes us think of fields, tractors, barns, and animals.

Cultivated meat may happen inside a building filled with stainless-steel equipment. Workers may look more like laboratory technicians than farmers.

But it is still the cultivation of a biological system for human use.

The biological system has simply changed scale.

Instead of raising an entire cow, the producer cultivates cow cells.

Instead of controlling acres of land, the producer controls the temperature, nutrients, oxygen, and cleanliness inside a container.

This may not look like traditional agriculture, but it follows the same basic idea.

Humans are creating an environment in which a useful biological system can grow.

Possible Benefits

A more controlled system may reduce some of the risks associated with traditional meat production.

Animals raised close together can spread diseases. Animal waste can enter water systems. Raising livestock requires land to grow feed and space for the animals. Slaughter creates ethical concerns for people who object to killing animals.

Cultivated meat might reduce some of these concerns.

The cells can be grown in a controlled environment.

The production system may require less land than raising animals.

Fewer animals may need to be raised and slaughtered.

The conditions can be monitored for contamination.

The system might also allow producers to control the amount and type of fat in the final product.

This does not mean that cultivated meat has no environmental or health effects. It means that some parts of the system may become easier to control.

New Control Creates New Dependencies

More control normally requires more technology.

A cow can survive for some time if a machine breaks. Cells growing inside a controlled container may not.

The system may depend on electricity, temperature control, sterile equipment, nutrient mixtures, sensors, pumps, and trained workers.

A field receives light from the sun. An indoor farm may depend on electric lights.

Rain can provide water to a crop. A hydroponic farm depends on pumps and water-treatment systems.

Grass can feed a cow. Cultivated cells may need nutrients that have been carefully produced and purified.

The controlled environment removes some risks while creating new ones.

A drought may no longer destroy the crop, but a power outage might.

An insect may no longer eat the plant, but a software failure might stop the irrigation system.

More control does not mean no risk. It changes the type of risk.

Is More Control Better for People?

Controlled agriculture may produce food more consistently.

Indoor farms can operate throughout the year. Cultivated meat might reduce exposure to some diseases associated with raising and processing animals. Controlled systems may allow producers to monitor the production environment more closely.

However, the technology may also make food production more expensive.

A field can be farmed with relatively simple tools. A cellular agriculture facility requires specialized equipment and knowledge.

If only a few companies can afford the equipment or own the necessary patents, food production could become concentrated among those companies.

A technology that produces safe food is good for people.

A technology that produces food no one can afford is less useful.

Is More Control Better for the Planet?

Traditional agriculture uses large amounts of land and water. It can reduce habitat, cause soil erosion, and allow fertilizers or pesticides to enter nearby ecosystems.

Controlled agriculture may use less land and apply water and nutrients more precisely.

But an indoor system may use more electricity. Equipment must be manufactured. Buildings must be heated, cooled, cleaned, and maintained.

The environmental benefit depends on the whole system.

An indoor farm powered by low-carbon electricity may have a different environmental effect than one powered by fossil fuels.

Cultivated meat that uses fewer resources than raising animals could reduce environmental pressure. If it requires very large amounts of energy and difficult-to-produce materials, the benefit may be smaller.

Moving agriculture indoors does not remove its environmental impact.

It moves and changes that impact.

Is More Control Better for Profit?

Controlled systems may allow producers to grow food closer to cities and throughout the year.

A company may be able to produce crops in places where outdoor farming is difficult. Food can be grown closer to consumers, possibly reducing transportation and spoilage.

However, the cost of equipment, electricity, buildings, and specialized workers may make some products too expensive.

The system must create more value than it costs to operate.

This may work first for products that are expensive, highly perishable, or difficult to transport. Leafy vegetables, herbs, specialized ingredients, and certain types of meat may make more sense than crops such as wheat or corn.

A controlled system may be biologically possible without being economically useful.

The Future Farm

The farm of the future may not be one thing.

Some food will continue to come from fields.

Some will come from greenhouses.

Some will come from indoor vertical farms.

Some ingredients may be produced by microorganisms inside fermentation tanks.

Some meat may come from animals, while some may be grown from cells.

The future of agriculture is not necessarily the end of farms. It is the expansion of agriculture into new types of controlled environments.

As humans gain more control over biological systems, the line between agriculture, manufacturing, and biotechnology will become less clear.

A field produces wheat.

A greenhouse produces tomatoes.

A fermentation tank produces a protein.

A container of animal cells produces meat.

All of these systems cultivate biology to sustain or enhance human life.

Closing Thoughts

Agriculture began when humans stopped depending entirely on the biological systems they found and started changing those systems to better meet their needs.

Modern agriculture continued this trend through irrigation, fertilizers, pesticides, machinery, breeding, and controlled environments.

The next step may be to control even more of the system.

Instead of changing the weather, we move the crop inside.

Instead of protecting an animal from disease, we grow only the cells we need.

Instead of accepting the limits of a field, we build a new environment around the organism.

This could reduce health risks, ethical concerns, and environmental impacts. It could also increase energy use, technological dependence, cost, and corporate control.

The important question is not whether controlled agriculture is natural or artificial.

The important questions are:

Is it good for people?

Is it good for the planet?

Does it create useful value?

And what new risks do we accept in exchange for greater control?

Did you learn something? Did we get something wrong? Leave a comment below.