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Spotted: Currently, agriculture accounts for around 70 per cent of all freshwater withdrawals globally. By 2050, however, agricultural production will also need to grow by 70 per cent to accommodate a population that’s likely to have exceeded 10 billion. With water scarcity steadily increasing with climate change, meeting growing food demand will be a challenge.

How is agriculture going to meet the growing demand for food with less water? One answer could be through the use of nanobubble technology – a method for efficiently transferring high levels of gas to liquid. Startup Nanobubble Agritech is using this technology to force water to hold more oxygen than it otherwise would.

This supersaturated water has been shown to have multiple benefits including improved growth rates, moisture retention, yield, disease resistance, soil water penetration, and water use efficiency. Easily retrofitted into existing irrigation systems, the company’s technology requires no changes or additions to pumping capacity.

The CEO of Nanobubble Agritech Leon Power told Springwise that the company made a number of technological advances to improve the efficiency of existing nanobubble systems. “This makes our systems perform better – including higher responses in the crop – and at a much lower price point, which is extremely important because outdoor irrigated farming has much bigger water flows to treat and lower margins per hectare compared to indoor hydroponic markets,” Power says.

Having initially conducted feasibility trials at Massey University, Nanobubble Agritech has since progressed to commercial-scale trials at sites across New Zealand, including a partnership with the Ministry for Primary Industries’ Sustainable Food Futures Fund (SFFF).

As climate change makes weather patterns less predictable, farmers need to adapt. Helping them are innovations such as the use of mycorrhizal fungi to boost soil carbon and incorporating AI to make farming more sustainable.

Written By: Lisa Magloff