Three science and tech trends to watch in 2021

With all eyes on the new administration’s priorities, and likely massive investments into combatting COVID-19 and the climate crisis, what science and technology trends that affect the fresh produce industry will come to the forefront? Below are the top three to watch.

Focus on soil health. As the U.S. re-engages on addressing the climate change crisis, look to a massive investment into carbon sequestration-focused R&D. As a consequence, we will move away from the amorphous notion of “soil health” and finally toward a consensus, metric-driven definition. 

While row crops have been benefiting from conservation tillage for decades, it is critical for the specialty crop industry to get credit for existing practices (such as mulches, subsurface irrigation, cover crops, etc.) that promote soil health, and to identify new opportunities for soil carbon sequestration. 

We expect to see an extension of data obtained by academic researchers into technologies that can do that at scale and practices that producers can implement. 

New applications for nanomaterials. Both COVID-19 vaccines currently used in the U.S. use lipid nanoparticles to deliver their mRNA cargo into human cells. Success of these vaccines is likely to foreshadow new opportunities for nanotechnology.

Nanotechnology has been gaining its share of the marketplace since the early 2000s — however, questions of safety and consumer acceptance have prevented broader expansion. Nanoparticle-based COVID-19 vaccines will likely positively affect consumer perceptions of nanotechnology. 

The technology is already moving away from metal nanoparticles toward organic and bio-inspired molecules. These technologies (many are ready for scale-up) promise to develop edible coatings for fruits and vegetables and nano-delivered antioxidants that can delay food spoilage. 

Nanotechnology is likely to gain broader acceptance in food safety: nanomaterial-containing coatings that prevent biofouling can control establishment of microbial, often pathogen-containing, biofilms; nanobubbles of ozone and other gases in water solutions can be used to clean surfaces, including produce surfaces, for efficient removal of pathogens.

Re-imagined energy grids and energy use patterns. The COVID-19 pandemic exposed vulnerabilities of the globally connected economy. In 2021, we will see a number of technologies that will attempt to offer decentralization solutions. 

Renewable energy microgrids are particularly interesting as these are likely to benefit from the anticipated massive government investment into combatting climate change and they address a real need, especially in rural communities where food is produced.

Several promising technologies are ready to make the distributed power microgrid shine. For example, concentrated solar-thermal systems that use solar power to heat water and capture that energy, or ground source heat pumps that capture geothermal energy, to name a few candidates. 

In production systems that use significant amounts of energy (such as greenhouses), we will also see growing reliance on decision support software combined with biofeedback controls. This means that producers will be able to precisely measure how much light plants can assimilate through photosynthesis, and turn lights off as soon as plants have reached their peak assimilation capacity.

With these and other technological innovations coming to market, it will be critical for the produce industry to engage in the translation process to ensure that opportunities offered by these innovations are fully utilized along the entire fresh produce and floral supply chain. 

Max Teplitski is chief science officer for the Produce Marketing Association.