b'THE WORLD IS RUNNING OUT OF FARMERS. WHATS THE ANSWER?Though the population continues to grow, the amount of farmers continues to shrink.How does it need to be addressed globally?Marc ZienkiewiczCONTRARY TO POPULARbelief, the world is notAccording to the ILO 2020 report Spotlight running out of land for farming and we are noton Work Statistics, the world is witnessing aPERCENTAGE OF GLOBAL running out of food, says a Canadian expert inpronounced urbanization, accompanied byEMPLOYMENT IN a field known as deeptechinstead, we areshifts in employment from agriculture to theAGRICULTUREactually running out of farmers. services sector.According to Kiersten Stead, managingStead, originally from Alberta, focuses on partner of Californias DCVC Bio, thats due ininvesting in life science companies that have part to advancements in agricultural technol- a deep-tech advantage, principally in thera- 44%ogy, but its indicative of a widespread trendpeutics, agriculture and synthetic biology.in 1991that we all should be concerned aboutthePreviously, she was a scientist and holds a fact that an increasing number of peoplePhD in molecular biology and genetics and dont want to, or are unable to, profitablyan MBA in finance.farm. DCVC Bio was represented at the recent Farming is one of the most dangerousWorld Agri-Tech Innovation Summit held in jobs that we engage in. Its also a really chal- San Francisco, which brought together grow- 26%lenging job with high risks. All you have toers, agribusiness leaders, technology pioneers do is look at the continuing consolidation ofand investors to discuss the future of agricul- in 2020farmsfarmers continue to adjust their busi- tural technology.nesses because they cant or dont want to doTaking risks to change the game in ag, it anymore, she says. food and climate was a major theme, and Were seeing the average age of farmersattendees explored the question of what go up, and were seeing average farm size goinvestors need to see to invest in the foodThe percentage of up along with it, and an increasing shortageand ag spaces. Progressive regulatory frame- the North American of labour. Its not sustainable into the nextworks are a big part of that puzzle, she saidworkforce in generation. in an interview with Seed World Group. agriculture has The statistics bear this out. AccordingStead and her team invest in early-stagedropped drastically to the United Nations International Laborcompanies and technologies that are usingover the years, from Organization (ILO), the percentage of peoplesome form of deeptech combined with the who work in agriculture has dropped fromlife sciences in order to make life better for70% in the 44 per cent in 1991 to an all-time low ofthose that use it, which in the case of agricul- year 184026 per cent in 2020. The percentage of theture is all of us, she says. to aroundNorth American workforce in agriculture hasWith the number of farmers in the world dropped drastically over the years, from 70shrinking, we need to look to technology to3% in 2000per cent in the year 1840 to around three persolve a trend that is only going to speed up cent by 2000, according to USDA statistics. over time as urbanization increases.40GERMINATION.CANOVEMBER 2022'