Summary
This narrative review examines emerging food technologies—including vertical farming, synthetic food production, plant-based meat substitutes, fermentation-derived foods, and cellular agriculture—that could substantially reduce land demand for food production. The authors assess the current state of these technologies and analyse how they may interact with broader food-system factors to reshape future agricultural land requirements. The work addresses a critical sustainability question: whether technological and dietary shifts can decouple food production from land use at scale.
UK applicability
The findings are relevant to UK policy on food security and land use, particularly given the UK's limited arable land and commitments to nature recovery and tree planting. The review's analysis of land-sparing technologies may inform national food strategy and agricultural transition planning, though local applicability depends on the economics and consumer adoption of these emerging technologies within UK market conditions.
Key measures
Land footprint per unit of protein or calorie; yield per unit area; technological viability and economic feasibility of alternative food production systems
Outcomes reported
The paper reviews technological advances in food production (vertical farming, food synthesis, plant-based and fermentation-derived alternatives, cellular agriculture) and explores how these may reduce future land demand. The review examines interactions between these technologies and endogenous and exogenous food-system factors affecting agricultural land requirements.
Topic tags
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