Laser Weeding Robots, Pasta Alla Norma & Regenesis
+ if you're at FFT in SF this week, I'd love to meet! (#60).
Hi all, welcome back to BRB w/ Nathan P.
I’ll be at Future Food Tech in SF this week – if you’re in the area, please reach out so we can find time to meet!
💥 Breakthrough: Laser Weeding Robots
Soils sustain 59% of terrestrial biodiversity, but they face a key threat: herbicides and pesticides.
Intensive agriculture is degrading soil carbon and microbiology, and putting at risk 90% of the world’s topsoils by 2050.
The chemicals we add to soil are threatening the livelihoods of the 100,000+ animals and insects that inhabit it. Arthropods – by far the most diverse phylum in the animal kingdom including spiders, insects, and 7 million other species – saw a 67% decline in biomass over the past 2 decades.
The transition to making the world’s 48 million square kilometers of farmland more sustainable will take time. We need drop-in solutions that can bridge the transition: enter Carbon Robotics’ laser-weeding robots 🤖
Carbon Robotics uses AI-powered CO2 laser technology to recognize and zap weeds without disturbing crops or the soil.
It automates the most costly, demanding, and labor-intensive part of farming: weeding. The LaserWeeding robot reduces the needs for both herbicides and labor.
Besides the harm pesticides have for human and ecological health, weeds are also becoming resistant to pesticides like glyphosate, so farmers are desperate for solutions.
Solutions like Carbon Robotics’ that don’t involve harmful pesticides are promising.
To-date, Carbon Robotics has zapped over 500 million weeds. They raised a $30M Series C last year to support their expansion to 17 US states and 3 Canadian provinces, with Europe on the horizon.
Their robots use computer vision to recognize plants from weeds, and have shown success in weeding fields with 40 different crop varieties.
While innovations like these can address the herbicide challenge, we still need a larger paradigm shift in agriculture to grow nutritious food, sequester carbon, and allocate our land resources responsibly.
I recently came across this fascinating chart by Hannah Ritchie, author of Sustainability by Numbers on Substack.
It puts into perspective that agriculture occupies 45% of habitable land, 80% of which is used for feeding animals and grazing.
Plant-based proteins and fermentation-based foods, with up to 90% fewer land use per protein calorie, are essential to create more sustainable food systems.
Plant-based diets have the potential to decrease our collective emissions by 80-100 billion tons of carbon between 2020 and 2050. For reference, the transition to electric vehicles (EVs) is estimated at 7-10 billion tons of carbon in the same time frame.
Let’s regenerate 🌱
PS: curious to read more sustainable food & ag approaches?
I’ve previously written about a number of agricultural approaches that can regenerate soil and produce nutrient dense foods, like:
🌱 Permaculture (Read BRB #34: Permaculture, Kimchi Fried Rice & Regeneration)
🌱 Agroforestry (Read BRB #3: Agroforestry in Costa Rica, Garlic Chili Noodles & Food Rules)
🌱 Rotational Grazing (Read BRB #5: Rotational Grazing, Homemade Stock & Kitchen Confidential)
I’ve also covered a few food technologies to reduce our reliance on soil entirely:
🧬 Vertical farming (Read BRB #20: Vertical Farming, Chia Pudding & Where the Crawdads Sing)
🧬 Precision fermentation (Read BRB #46: Precision Fermentation, Mapo Tofu & Medicinal Mushrooms)
🧬 Cultivated meat (Read BRB #10: Cultivated Meat, Mushroom Risotto & Eat Like a Fish)
🥘 Recipe: Pasta Alla Norma
Ever since an Italian friend showed me the underrated Pasta alla Norma, it’s become one of my favorite pasta dishes.
The name of the dish actually comes from a play called ‘Norma’ by 19th century Italian composer Vincenzo Bellini. Legend has it playwright Nino Martoglio, after his first bite of this dish, exclaimed, “Chista è ‘na vera Norma!” – “This is a true Norma!”.
It’s another tasty recipe to add to your arsenal of 15-min weeknight meals. This dish combines diced eggplant and tomatoes sautéed in olive oil to result in a satisfying and richly umami dish.
It’s delicious – and also requires a tad more olive oil than you’d imagine. Hope you enjoy 🍝🍅🍆
PS: If you make it, please send pictures! :)
📚 Book: Regenesis
In relation to the discussion on soil health above, I’m resurfacing this inquisitive read of our food systems. This book reaffirmed my belief that soils are the most advanced technology on our planet.
In Regenesis, George Monbiot dives into the wonders of soil microbiology and why human health is tied to soil health.
There is disproportionately more biodiversity below soil than above it. Earlier this year, a study concluded that 59% of the world’s biodiversity is found in soils.
And yet, industrial agriculture ignores the fungi, bacteria, and earthworms that plants rely on to grow. We need to produce food in harmony with these organisms, not in opposition with them, to ensure the farmability of land for future generations.
🎣 Fishing and 🌾 farming are two of the main drivers of biodiversity loss, and the latter is also a leading source of water and air pollution.
Regenesis is an enlightening read rich with many fun facts. For instance:
“Ants bring clay from the subsoil and mix it with their saliva, making a cement strong enough to support their galleried and storied domes, the equivalent, if scaled to human inhabitants, of 100-meter towers.”
I appreciate his candidness and exploration of a wide range of health and climate solutions – from microbiomes to precision fermentation and soil biocatalysts.
While I’m enthusiastic about “ferming” and soil-free alternative proteins, I don’t think we will – or should try to – totally eliminate soil from food production.
Highly recommend to rethink our food systems in 2024. What do you think?
My favorite quotes as teasers:
“The soil beneath a square meter of the orchard may contain many hundreds of thousands of animals, ranging across thousands of species.”
“Leonardo da Vinci remarked that we know more about the movement of the celestial bodies than about the soil on our own planet. This remains true today.”
“The promise of farmfree food is much greater than this: we could rewild most of the land now used for farming, while protecting the remaining wild places… This transition could be our best hope of stopping the sixth great extinction.”
Thank you for reading – BRB next week ✌️
🥘 Recipe: Pasta Alla Norma
Adapted from Ottolenghi (Simple) and Cookie + Kate
Ingredients (4 portions)
1 lb pasta of choice (I recommend farfalle or rigatoni) 🍝
1 large eggplant or 2 medium eggplants 🍆
3 large tomatoes or 300g cherry tomatoes 🍅
Generous amounts of olive oil 🫒
Shredded parmesan, basil, red pepper flakes (optional)
Instructions (30 minutes)
Use a vegetable peeler to shave off long alternating strips of eggplant peel. The eggplants will look striped like zebras when you’re done. Then slice the eggplants into ½-inch thick rounds, discarding the end pieces. Slice the rounds into ½-inch cubes.
Cube the tomatoes in ½-inch cubes as well, or if using cherry tomatoes, slice in half.
Add the diced tomato and eggplant in a medium-high saucepan with 6 tablespoons of olive oil. Drizzle a bit more after for good measure. Stir often and cook until caramelized and softened.
Bring a large pot of salted water to boil and cook the pasta until al dente, according to package directions. Reserve some pasta cooking water before draining (about ½ cup should be plenty), then return the pasta to the pot.
When the eggplant and tomatoes are done, add the remaining 1 teaspoon olive oil, fresh basil, red pepper flakes (skip if you don’t like spice, or load it up if you do). Crush the dried oregano between your fingers as you drop it in.
Add the pasta to the sauce with a couple tablespoons of the reserved pasta cooking water, and gently stir it in. Add about two-thirds of the cheese, reserving the rest for garnish. Season to taste with additional salt (I usually add ¼ teaspoon more) and black pepper. You can add a bit more of the reserved pasta cooking water to loosen up the sauce, if desired.
Divide the pasta between four bowls. Sprinkle the remaining cheese on top of the individual servings, followed by some extra fresh basil. For added richness, drizzle the servings lightly with olive oil. Enjoy! Leftover pasta will keep well in the refrigerator, covered, for 4 to 5 days.
About Me
Hi there! My name is Nathan Paumier – I’m an avid reader, food enthusiast, and climate optimist.
BRB w/ Nathan P, your 5-min weekly dose of information to inspire climate action. I started this newsletter after frequent questions on food tech, reading recommendations, and my secret recipes.
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