Introduction to agriculture

Agriculture both contributes to climate change and is affected by it.

There is mounting pressure placed on the agricultural industry to become more sustainable. The projected growth in the world population translates into the need to increase production efficiencies of arable crops by as much as 70% from the same land resources to meet the need without significant impact on the environment. With the onset of climate change, there are more frequent storms, water shortages and soil pollution. These issues can lead to waste and reduced yields.

This problem also confronts Singapore, a city-state with a dense urban population with less than 1% of its land dedicated to agriculture. In recent years, however, the country has sought to revive its agricultural ambitions, aiming to become Asia’s urban agri-food tech hub. Despite capturing over 20% of global agri-commodity trade flows, Singapore faces the looming vulnerability of its food security and lack of self-sufficiency in its food supply. Less than 10% of Singapore’s current food supply is produced locally, which nudged an ambitious aim from the government of Singapore to increase this to 30% by 2030. Singapore is now driving intensive research into agritech and high-productivity innovation.