A range of converging powerful forces are fundamentally redefining how humanity lives, and are reshaping what we eat, and where and how our food will be grown.

The Future of Food lays out some of the key drivers of change and concludes that the global food system is at a major tipping point. The Future of Food poses some hard questions and outlines predictions for the future of food looking out over the next thirty years.

Food is essential for our health and survival. There is a growing disconnect between where food can be grown, and where it will be consumed. The rapidly growing global population in Asia and Africa, coupled with the impacts of climate change, are reshaping the global food story. Local food production potential is forecast to decline in areas where population growth is greatest, and where there is already significant hunger.

Future iQ believes the global food industry is ripe for disruption:

• There is a massive dichotomy in food induced health outcomes across the planet. Nearly 2 billion people don’t get enough food; and nearly 2 billion people get too much.
• Many of the planet’s food production systems and areas are unsustainable, creating soil erosion and nutrient depletion, and resulting in the destruction of forests and natural ecosystems.
• Fresh water resources are becoming increasingly polluted and stressed, fundamentally changing the way we need to think about food production.

Future iQ predicts the transformation of the global food industry will be driven by simultaneous changes in technology and consumer behavior.

• Technology allows a radical shift in how food can be produced. We will see more protected or controlled environment production, on a massive scale, and high-tech large-scale autonomous farming operations.
• Consumers will continue to move away from traditional animal-based proteins, to new and novel plant-based protein products. This trend has started; and will accelerate.
• Environmental safeguards will protect important food producing regions, and their natural resources of soil and water.
• Food health concerns will drive innovation in food tracking and authentication, and in full transparency of foods ‘health profile’.