How do we feed the world but not destroying the planet?

Future farms

For city farmes may seem like a baby step towards self-sufficiency, but FreightFarms enables bigger strides. The Boston-based team behind FreightFarms takes old shipping containers and turns them into modular, stackable urban farms for parking lots, garages or unused land. Each crate is fitted out with climate-control and hydroponic systems for maximum yield and energy efficiency. According to the designers, a single container can nurture 3,000 plants at any one time, more than matching the output of a traditional agricultural greenhouse.

                                              
Producing food nearer to where it will  be consumed no matter land or water would cut the carbon and energy expended in transporting and refrigerating produce, but there's an even simpler way to improve the efficiency of the world's food ecosystem.

Future papers

According to the Institution of Mechanical Engineers, between 30% and 50% of the world's food is thrown away rather than eaten — which means that a third to a fifth of the energy, water and effort that goes into food production is wasted.

                                         
Correcting that failure will require systemic changes, but individual consumers can play their part too. Two other nominees provide simple, small-scale ways to keep produce fresh and cut the amount of food that ends up rotting on the refuse heap. FreshPaper, a sheet of paper impregnated with organic spices and enzymes with natural anti-fungal and antibacterial properties, claims to double or even quadruple the life of fruit and veg.

              Hydroponics System from Chicfarm LED grower, http://www.chicfarm.net