From fantasy to reality
When we think about space technology, we usually picture astronauts and rockets, but there’s a whole new frontier emerging in space for sustainable farming. And what’s fascinating is that this technology isn’t just for outer space – it’s also being applied right here on Earth.
Which is why this episode will focus on innovators who are turning what once seemed like science fiction into the farming fact of tomorrow. From growing food without soil to using advanced tech to feed the world, these pioneers are shaping the future right before our eyes.
This is Farms. Food. Future – a podcast that's good for you, good for the planet and good for farmers. Brought to you by the International Fund for Agricultural Development.
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Transcript
This is Farms. Food. Future. – a podcast that’s Good for you, Good for the Planet, and Good for Farmers.
Brought to you by the International Fund for Agricultural Development.
Brian:
Welcome to episode 78, where we boldly go where no podcast has ever gone before! I’m Captain Thomson.
Michelle:
and co-presenting this mission, I’m Commander Tang.
Brian:
Commander, today we’re venturing into uncharted territory, exploring the final frontier of farming.
Michelle:
We are beaming in with the Star Trek theme guiding our travels.
Brian:
We’re traveling far beyond the conventional.
Michelle:
That’s right, Captain. Today, we’re meeting innovators who are turning what once seemed like science fiction into the farming fact of tomorrow. From growing food without soil to using advanced tech to feed the world, these pioneers are shaping the future right before our eyes.
Brian:
We’ll hear from the trailblazers in space farming, advanced water systems, and the tech transforming agriculture, making the impossible possible.
Michelle:
But before we jump into today’s mission, we want to hear from you – what you think about our stories and who you want us to be talking to – so please get in touch with us at podcasts@ifad.org.
Brian:
You can also subscribe to this podcast via your favourite podcast platform and please don’t forget to rate us. Your feedback helps us keep going where no podcast has gone before!
Michelle:
Coming up, we're blasting off into outer space.
Brian:
You’re listening to Farms. Food. Future. with me Brian Thomson and Michelle Tang.
When we think about space technology, we usually picture astronauts and rockets, but there’s a whole new frontier emerging in space for sustainable farming. And what’s fascinating is that this technology isn’t just for outer space – it’s also being applied right here on Earth.
Michelle:
That’s right, some of the innovations being developed for future Mars habitats are making their way into agriculture and sustainability. Interstellar Lab is a company that designs and develops sustainable, closed-loop environments for space exploration and Earth.
Brian:
Using advanced technology, they aim to support life in harsh conditions, from arid lands on earth to vast expanses on the moon and even Mars, whilst also promoting resource-efficient agriculture.
Our reporter, Hector Clack, spoke to their CEO, Barbara Belvisi, to find out more.
Hector Clack:
Welcome, Barbara Belvisi to episode 78 of Farms. Food. Future. Can you introduce yourself and tell us a little bit about interstellar lab?
Barbara Belvisi:
Of course. Thank you for having me. It's a pleasure to be with you today. I'm Barbara Belvisi, the founder and CEO of Interstellar Lab. At Interstellar Lab we have a pretty big mission. And so our goal is to help preserving life on Earth, but also help life expand in space. How we're doing that is we design, we build and we operate farming systems. So think of it as super advanced greenhouses, fully automated. Where we recreate ideal conditions so plants can grow faster and we trigger the production of the specific molecular nutrients inside them. And so we have a Earth programme that we design for botanical ingredients, food conservation. And we also have a space programme because our technology was selected by NASA to build greenhouses on the space station and in the future on the Moon.
Hector Clack:
Could you tell us a little bit about biopod and how you're using technology to promote sustainability?
Barbara Belvisi:
We're actually we have now a family of biopod. We have different models. There are form or factors is different depending on what's their purpose. The one that we have on Earth are not the same that the one we're going to put on the moon, but a biopod is a smart greenhouse. So, it can be a small cube where we do research, a plant growth chamber where we conduct research as well or a larger inflatable structure. The smallest size that we did, we call them the bioquarks because they're like the original particles and they're very, very like they're very, very small. And they're like 40 centimetre tall. And so it's, it's pretty small, but the one we are most famous for is the biopod model 1, which really looks like a spaceship. So, it's. 11 metre long, 6 metre wide, 6 metre tall. It sits on feet and it looks like a little insect, so everything here has a structural shell inside which we put the hydraulic system, the atmospheric system, it's all white. And so we have all the machinery inside the shell and then on top of it, you have a floor and then an inflated membrane. And so if you, if you look from afar it looks like a gigantic cocoon, a little bit of an insect put on the surface of the earth and inside the inflatable structure you have the oldest growing system that is dedicated to plant growth. So, it's like a mini earth, a dome where we recreated this environment so plants can grow faster and the whole purpose of biopods is that they're not buildings, they're products. And so you just plug them, you just give them power and then the bio pod is smart and will recreate the climate and so it's uses CO2 from the atmosphere. Recycle the water. This vision of you know, minimum resource maximum output.
Hector Clack:
How can understanding regenerative systems that are designed for space help us to tackle issues surrounding nutrition, food security or biodiversity on Earth?
Barbara Belvisi:
If you think about space engineering, you know for a system to work in space, it has to be very robust, also because it's a very extreme environment. And by definition it has to be designed for long term because you don't want to change it, so robustness long term and very efficient in terms of the resources that you use and what's the outcome. When you think about and this is the approach that we had advanced around, we thought about, OK, let's work on the hypothetical concept project of building a greenhouse for Mars application. Then when you think about Mars, you're like, OK, I need to optimise the power consumption because it's not unlimited on Mars. I need to be smart on how do we manage the air flow, the oxygen, the CO2, how can we leverage what is called in-situ resources, so local resource that you have around you. And so you came up with like you know specific design and engineering. Because we thought with those constraints with space constraints. And so that forces you to be very, very innovative when people design things on Earth, they tend to think everything is unlimited. So, the approach of closing the loop and be regenerative was not fully integrated in the design and I think was our approach of looking at how you design systems for space and how efficient, robust, optimise the resource consumption, you have to be, then you apply this here and then you come up with a smart and very efficient farming system.
Hector Clack:
Here at Farms. Food Future. We often talk about how technological innovations can be used to empower smallholder farmers from low-income communities. Are there any ways that your innovations at Interstellar lab could be applied to this?
Barbara Belvisi:
Of course, and that's the vision of what we are actually developing. So as a company, as I said in the beginning, we designed the system, we built the system, we assemble them, we build them, interface them intelligent so the greenhouse can function by itself. But we do everything in house. And so why we're doing in House? Because we can better design the system, but also we can control the cost. If you want to pay for someone to build, it's very expensive, so that's why we're building our own factory so we can mass manufacture, we can optimise the cost, we can reduce the cost of our farming system and then we can make it much more affordable for any farmer. And so the vision of Interstellar is to build this very advanced greenhouse that can help farmers and, you know, grow new type of species that we're not able to grow with their existing farm and use our farming system as a booster for the species as a nursery. So we can really, really boost the quality of the plant and then we plant them. So it's to add another tool and to give the opportunities to farmers to optimise how they can produce them. You know plants, flowers, food, a lot of different things. But the key to that is really to have a good supply chain and for us to be able to produce the greenhouses. And so then we can directly sell to them at a much better price. So dropping the cost, make it affordable for everyone that's at the centre of what we're doing.
Michelle:
Thank you, Barbara and Hector. You can find out more about Interstellar lab by visiting interstellarlab.com.
Brian:
Commander Tang, set a course for Kenya next!
Michelle:
Aye, Captain! Course plotted. Next stop: Meeting Wangari Kuria, who’s preparing small scale farmers, especially women and youth, for the future of agriculture.
Brian:
You’re listening to Farms. Food. Future. with me Brian Thomson and Michelle Tang.
Wangari Kuria is the founder and CEO of Farmer on Fire, a company that offers both online and on-farm training sessions on sustainable farming techniques.
Michelle:
They work with high-value crops like mushrooms and strawberries. They've trained thousands of farmers and create engaging educational content on farming to inspire future generations to see agriculture as a viable and attractive career.
Brian:
Our reporter, Shuya Wang, spoke to Wangari Kuria to find out the story behind Farmer on Fire.
Shuya Wang:
Hello, Wangari. Welcome to our podcast. So, my first question is what inspired you to establish Farmer on Fire? Could you share the story behind its inception?
Wangari Kuria:
I used to be a project manager in a real estate company and life was good. However, there were changes in government that affected the sector and the company went down, rendering me jobless. And I had to move back to the rural areas where I grew up. It was at this point in my depression that I started farming. I had seen my mother farm and putting food on the table for us. So, I started with a kitchen garden and eventually I moved to mushroom farming. That kind of just opened up the world for me. I can impact other people who are in the same position to create an income for themselves, and make sure that they have secured food for their family.
Shuya Wang:
Mushrooms seem to be a core focus for farmer on fire. Could you elaborate on why you believe in their potential to transform small scale farming?
Wangari Kuria:
Yes. Mushroom farming transformed not only my life, but that of my community and people around me. So why I chose mushroom farming is because, number one, I don't have a lot of space. Another reason was the effect of climate change. I realized that there is something called climate related poverty. This is when farmers automatically farm the way they used to farm a long time ago, without understanding the changes in the environment and experiencing losses due to that. And then because they don't have reserves, they are not able to cultivate in the future because they don't have any financial reserves. It is with this that I chose a crop that I can be able to produce all year round, and a high value crop that I would be able to get good money even if I'm farming it in a limited space.
We have had so many exciting stories, people who were experiencing gender-based violence, they were experiencing something called financial abuse from their husbands or from their dads. A lady was brought up by her grandmother because her parents died from HIV Aids, and she was living in abject poverty. But we walked the journey. How we trained her, how to grow mushrooms, how to sell mushrooms, how to also train other farmers in her community. She is now confident and in a university, she had to go back to school pursuing to be a geologist. Like my daughter, she plays with some of their children in the community. My daughter will come and give me stories of how someone's daughter was married off, because the family needed to think about alternative source of income, and they have to go back to some practices that are not ideal because it was either to sell their daughter into early marriage or starve to death. And at that point, you can kind of see how looking for solutions that are climate smart can help everyone.
Shuya Wang:
Thank you for your stories. So, insect farming is an innovative approach. So how do you see it contributing to sustainable agriculture and improving the livelihoods for farmers?
Wangari Kuria:
In Africa we have been known to eat insects. It is important that we go back to some practices that were used traditionally. We are going to have over 10 billion people that will need to feed in the next 20 years or so. And how we do this, without damaging and using so many resources in a sustainable way, is the fact of bringing in animal sourced protein from insects. In Africa, we do very little value addition. So, a lot of the farmers produce ends up in these public markets. And then 2 or 3 days after, because they don't have the infrastructure to preserve it or prolong the shelf life, it ends up in the dumpsite. We go and collect this waste and we feed it to the love, and we can be able to produce tons and tons from almost zero cost.
People in Kenya are quitting livestock farming. You'll find a lot of farmers who are doing chicken farming, fish farming, sheep, cow and all that kind of farming have left their venture because of high cost of inputs. The feeds are no longer affordable to them and for us, we open our farms even. I'm actually having a training tomorrow to just showcase to farmers that this is something that can cost you even 90% less in terms of the cost of production of your protein source for your animals.
Shuya Wang:
Fantastic. Thank you. So can you describe how Farmer on Fire is empowering women and youths with skills and knowledge needed, while specific projects highlight your work in this area?
Wangari Kuria:
If our farmers are not able to sell their mushrooms, we can be able to drive the mushrooms, grind them into powder and then we can fortify into this porridge made from millet, sorghum, all those nice grains that are important in the growth of children. But additionally, we are bringing in fortification through mushroom powders. Another thing is women groups, we do enjoy having to train women groups, and we have trained over 15 women groups. And the idea is they come together, and we set up an easy ascent made of mud that is very affordable for them and for everyone. We do the first crop with them, and they can see and participate. We make sure that they have gone to their nearest market to make sure that they are fully sufficient in that process, and we have seen these groups thrive to the extent that they can now even go to each woman member individually, go and set up a mushroom farm for themselves so that they can all have their own business as well as a group.
Michelle:
Thank you Wangari and Shuya. To find out more about Farmer on fire, you can visit their website farmeronfire.com.
Brian:
Next up, we're charting a course to visit a familiar voice.
Brian:
You’re listening to Farms. Food. Future. with me Brian Thomson and Michelle Tang.
ago, in our first episode of:Michelle: l know what the big issues of:
Brian:
For those of you who missed part one, Catherine is an Assistant Professor at the University of Maryland's Geography Department.
Michelle:
And her research focuses on using remote sensing and machine learning to improve smallholder agriculture, food security, early warning, and disaster assessment.
Brian:
Today, in the second part of her interview, we’ll explore how remote satellite sensing can make a difference in areas most vulnerable to extreme weather events.
Hector Clack:
Where are we going in relation to remote satellite sensing? What role does it play in resolving future issues?
Catherine Nakalembe:
Think of it as a bird's eye view. You can see a lot of places you know from your desk. You can assess, monitor, you can map, you can track, for example today, you know and the last couple of days with extreme rainfall that has caused massive flooding in Spain. Or a similar event that happened in Kenya in March. We have the same tools that we can use to do that assessment, so I can give you an approximate estimate of the extent of damage and how cropland has been affected, where the cropland has been affected the most is we can track how long the water stays on the surface and if its crops that are sensitive to water being present then you can give a prediction about how severe the damage will be. And we have more satellites than we've ever had before. We have an extreme amount of compute that allows us to manipulate, utilise, assess and analyse this data. And so it's even though it is exciting that we are able to do this, what's fundamentally really missing is the linkage with the people that need that information. Across Africa, I work with many different government organisations, but when they strive to make that linkage with the decision makers, sometimes there aren't what I usually refer to as complementary programmes to take that information and take actions with it. So, if I tell you that 25,000 hectares of rice have been flooded and it's all going to be ruined, if I don't have a response programme there's nothing I can do with it. On the flip side of that, let's say I give you an early warning that there's going to be a severe flood in your area. Your crop is close to maturity. You should harvest really, really rapidly. Many things can happen 1. Is the people who are growing the crops don't have access to that information. There's no direct connection to them. But number 2, maybe they don't have the labour that's required to do that harvesting in time. If the solution or if the insight is that you should switch from crop X to Y, but you don't have the seeds, it is not useful. And then if you know the decision is to switch and you switch, but you don't have the market for that crop because it's not a crop that is, you know, typically consumed in your neighbourhood, then more anxiety, more stress, because then you will produce something that you won't have a market for locally, maybe internationally. And then obviously everything breaks down when you add in supply chains and laws, etcetera. That usually the people who could benefit the most or who do the most work for smallholder farmers in this particular instance get the least return on their work on their investment because at the farm gate price is very different than what we pay when, for example, we're buying our coffee at a supermarket.
Hector Clack:
With extreme weather events on the rise, how can satellites help predict and reduce the damages, especially in areas most at risk?
Catherine Nakalembe:
Because satellites are collecting data every day, a lot of data now is open access. We have a historical record of same data sets that allow us to understand how much it typically rains, for example. So add to that the fact that we can map where crops are, so some of the work that I do and spend a lot of time on is making an all improving what we call crop land maps or making crop type maps with rainfall distribution over time for example. Remember crops grow over a period. They require water at very critical points, and so if you have two weeks of no rainfall at the start, you would know that a particular district in Zambia is expected to be way below average because they did not receive a drop of rain in the first two weeks, which are critical parts of the growing seasons, farmers are planted, they're waiting for rain for crops to start maturing. More and more were able to predict further into the future what the weather will be with better models with integration of deep learning et cetera. You can tell for example, how a season might unfold. This means that in the case for the farmer in Zambia, same farmer, if the two weeks of no rain are going to extend to a month of no rain. Then the choice is not to plant. The other is if there's going to be a massive cyclone right affecting a particular region at a critical point in a growing season. The way to overcome damage would be for example, harvest really quickly or just estimate damage. There's nothing you can do but you know sometimes we hear like early in March if you live in the US, for example, you would know that give an indication of how the cyclone season will go. This is, you know, several months before the season at the extreme events would happen, but sometimes really early in the growing season. So, Farmer might decide not to plant anything. So, it's almost like saving instead of investing in something that will ultimately fail is you don't do it. And so, satellite remote sensing using historical data and the fact that we have near real time. So we have what are called geostationary satellites that are basically usually for weather there's one for example over the tropics and it takes or we get information from it every 15 minutes. It's tracking clouds and et cetera, which allow us to understand how quickly storms might be forming. The other thing is, if you think about in the context of things like El Niño. El Niño doesn't just arrive it takes time, right? So, you can track this El Niño forming in close to South America. Before the impact is felt, for example, in East Africa, and if we have experiences of what has happened before, then you would know that it's going to be extreme flooding or they won't even be provided in that context. However, you know, going back to my first point about how so complicated things are, this year's El Niño, as it happened in Kenya, overlapped with what's called an Indian dipole. Two extreme rainfall events, and so then it's like not something that we've ever seen before.
Michelle:
Thank you to Catherine, and to our reporter Hector.
If you haven't already, you can check out part one of the interview in episode 75, where we looked at the big issues shaping our future: sustainability, climate action and food systems.
Brian:
And don't forget to tune in to our latest missions. In episode 76 we met leading global youth advocates.
Michelle:
Then in episode 77 we explored the urgent need to protect biodiversity – through love, not loss – for the future of food, health and climate resilience.
Brian:
And now in episode 78, Commander Tang, we’re nearing the final frontier of today’s mission.
Michelle:
Aye, Captain. Where are we headed next?
Brian:
Prepare to explore cutting-edge solutions for water management.
Michelle:
You’re listening to Farms. Food. Future. with me Michelle Tang and Brian Thomson.
Brian:
Solid Dew L-L-C is a company from Miami Florida specialised in water-retaining polymers that improve soil and plant growth conditions. These polymers help enhance irrigation efficiency, increase soil water-holding capacity, and reduce erosion.
Michelle:
As we look towards the future it is essential that we find new and innovative ways to sustainably manage our water, especially in areas prone to water scarcity.
Brian:
Our reporter Hector Clack spoke to Solid Dew’s vice-president, Ricardo Oviedo [oh-vee-eh-dow], to find out how their innovative water harvesting methods are making a difference.
Hector Clack:
Welcome to the podcast, Ricardo. Thank you for joining us today.
Ricardo Oviedo:
No, Hector, thank you for having me it's a pleasure to talk about Solid Dew and its products and hopefully your listeners will have an impactful meeting.
Hector Clack:
Could you tell us a little bit about the technology that you're using at Solid Dew? What makes it different from traditional water harvesting methods?
Ricardo Oviedo:
Traditional water harvesting methods involve the creation of structure, whether it be half moons in the desert. Currently right now, one of the main projects taking place at a global scale is the Greenbelt in Africa and one of the things that is utilized in that project is half moons, which are great for collecting water. But our product differs from all these collection methods in the sense that our product conditions, the substrate and absorbs up to 400 times as water and whatever else is in the water conditioning the soil to make it more porous and thus more oxygen to flow into the root system of the plant. And if there is no rain and in times of drought, the product has the capacity to act as a silo of water storing the necessary nutrients and water because whatever else is in the water, our product has to capacity as long as its water soluble to absorb it along with the water. So you're not only reducing the water use, you're also reducing your fertilizer use. So, all this as your soil is being conditioned enables your props to potentially have yields increase of up to 30% or more.
Hector Clack:
So, how do these innovative farming methods contribute to sustainable water management, particularly in regions prone to water scarcity?
Ricardo Oviedo:
For example, if you're doing reforestation projects and you want that little sapling to survive. By adding, depending on the size of the tree from half a pound to a pound of our product, you enable that plant to have a competitive advantage because it has its own little silo of water and it enables the root system to hold firm and thus instead of for example, having a thin a root system, you have a very fraudulent root development and in addition to that you can use it with any fertilizer out in the market or nutrient that you're using. Whether it be organic or not.
Hector Clack:
Could you give us an example or a story of a time where the technology at Solid Dew has made a significant impact?
Ricardo Oviedo:
In the Dominican Republic, we conducted a during extreme drought condition tests on rain fed sugar cane and clearly, we were able to see the difference between the surrounding areas which were completely burnt out and the sugar cane that was treated with our product, which was all green and looking healthy. And in terms of what the farmer sought after in terms of cultivation, they saw a 25% increase in that crop yield just because of the addition of the product. In essence, we enabled him to conduct farming in conditions where they were very critical for his sugar cane.
Hector Clack:
In your opinion. What does the future look like for Solid Dew?
Ricardo Oviedo: nton Foundation back in early:
Hector Clack:
Thank you, Ricardo.
Ricardo Oviedo:Well, my pleasure and thank you for having me and I look forward to any questions, if any of your audience is interested in learning more about Solid Dew, please visit our website www.soliddew.com or contact us via e-mail which is the best form at info@soliddew.com.
Michelle:
Thank you, Ricardo. And that concludes our mission for today, Captain Thomson.
Brian:
Aye, Commander Tang.
Brian:
Thanks as always to our producers and editor here in Rome, Rosa González, Francesco Manetti, Michele Galloni, and to our reporters, Shuya Wang and Hector Clack.
Michelle:
But most of all thanks to you for listening to this episode of Farms Food Future brought to you by the International Fund for Agricultural Development.
Brian:
We’ll be back in two weeks with Life Stories, our new series that brings you closer to the real-life struggles and triumphs of those shaping the future of farming.
Michelle:
The journeys behind their innovations will inspire you.
Brian:And on the fourth Monday of March, we’ll explore how weather modification techniques, like cloud seeding, are being used to address water shortages in high-income countries.
Michelle:
And what that means for the planet’s ecosystems, agriculture, and water resources.
Brian and Michelle:
Stay tuned!
