Biofortification, where conventional plant-breeding or modern biotechnology techniques bolster the amount of iron and other essential minerals and vitamins on offer, is an increasingly promising option.⁶ Although the factors influencing both the nutrient content of crops and the scale of their absorption by human bodies remain incompletely understood,⁷ many successes in biofortification have already been achieved through conventional breeding, and the potential of genetic-engineering technologies (gene stacking, where two or more novel and useful genes are introduced into a single plant line, is one example) remains largely untapped.⁸

Genetic engineering can also boost crop yields, for example by re-engineering photosynthesis to boost energy capture.⁹ This can be coupled with improved crop resilience to help cope with droughts,¹⁰ pests and disease, which together account for 43 per cent of global crop loss.¹¹,¹² Domestication of resilient wild species¹³ could increase agricultural resilience to changing environmental conditions.¹⁴ RNA sprays, which deliver RNA-based vaccines against diseases to crops, have considerable potential for improving resilience against pathogens.¹⁵

Engineering the plant bacterial microbiome can enhance crop production and resilience.¹⁶ That is especially true for the rhizosphere microbiome associated with plant roots, which can help crops resist disease.¹⁷ There is also similar potential to engineer livestock. Already, researchers have used genetic engineering to develop fast-growing AquAdvantage salmon (which has been commercialised), pigs resistant to viral infections and dairy cattle resistant to mastitis.¹⁸

Research is increasing the specificity of pesticides, reducing unintended effects on non-target organisms and thus mitigating harm to crucial parts of the food chain and natural pest controls. Alternatives to pesticides, such as RNA sprays, are in development.²³ There is also growing attention being paid to gene drives. These are heritable edits to the genes of a specific organism that will spread through a population when the edited organisms are released into the ecosystem. They can be used to render populations incapable of spreading disease or to control the reproduction of invasive species,²⁴ although further research is required to avoid unintended consequences.²⁵

Novel means of enhancing soils with nutrients, such as the addition of biochar (a charcoal-like substance made from anaerobic burning of organic material), are being explored.²⁶ Understanding the soil microbiome, including competition among microbes, is key.²⁷ Conserving or restoring the soil microbiome is also important, and has been shown to accelerate plant biomass production by more than 60 per cent, making it a priority task.²⁸ Knowledge gaps in the role of cropping systems in soil health remain,²⁹,³⁰ but improving understanding of fundamental ecosystem properties, especially feedback mechanisms and complex interactions, should help close them.

One involves incorporating automation, AI and other novel technologies into traditional forms of agriculture.³¹ For example, tools like deep learning can accurately identify the presence of weeds and signs of disease from drone footage, enabling targeted intervention³² and decreasing unnecessary pesticide use.³³ Similarly, engineered plant nanosensors and portable Raman spectroscopy could potentially detect stresses and track the health of crops and soil.³⁴

Such high-tech approaches to traditional farming can be complemented by the use of agro-ecological tools³⁵ such as microbe-based bespoke fertilisers,³⁶ evidence-based crop choice and rotations.

Precision fermentation with engineered microorganisms can provide nutrient sources and improvers for food products such as cultured meat, improving texture and palatability and helping move towards viable large-scale production.³⁷ Microbes and enzymes are already being used as factories that produce fats and proteins for nutrition products.³⁸

The controlled release and targeted delivery of fertiliser ingredients manufactured at the nanoscale may also improve sustainability by ensuring more efficient use of nutrients.³⁹ Combining these approaches with “climate-smart agriculture”, an acknowledgement of the need to take changing climatic conditions and their increasing variability into account,⁴⁰ will be especially important in developing economies, where farms often lack resilience.⁴¹

Vertical farming, in which crops are grown indoors, close to population centres and under artificial light, could have a number of significant benefits. These include reduced food miles, reduced water use (watering systems are closed) and cuts in chemical pollution from fertilisers.⁴² Making vertical farming economically viable remains challenging, however.⁴³

Scientists are now making progress in shaping the requirements of personalised nutrition. Gaining such insights involves monitoring individual responses to particular foods — including considerations of the age at which they are introduced and of the role of the individual’s gut microbiome. This has already shown potential to aid the development of a number of important health measures, such as tools for preventing the onset of obesity or food addiction.⁴⁵

A key challenge is to understand the interactions between diet and the gut microbiome.⁴⁶ Physiologists have learned that the gut and brain are strongly connected, interacting through links dubbed the “gut-brain axis”.⁴⁷ Alterations to diet can impact the microbiome,⁴⁸ with knock-on effects for multiple bodily systems including the immune system and even mental health.⁴⁹ People’s individual gut flora differ significantly, so understanding the microbiome is key to personalising nutrition.⁵⁰