Four Futures of Food - Imagine 2021

• Future #1 Growth:
   Hydrogen-based fuels ensure clean power and allow us to continue using existing infrastructure. The steady climb of food costs that gripped the previous decade reversed and prices fell. New, more convenient foods keep busy young people fed, but keep them out of the kitchen. And safety is not an issue for the elderly, with meals that self-heat when removed from the package. Others, though, choose to pull back from these strong global flows. They see the abundance of fresh, frequently local produce as a call to simplify.
• Future #2 Constraint:
  The global food web faces a number of potential major blows in the coming decade. Water shortages, oil scarcity, or, as in this scenario, the unexpected outbreak of zoonotic disease, could easily send the food web into chaos. In response, political actors of all sizes engage in the often-contentious process of designing regulations and agreements to curb the ef- fects of disruptions on the supply chain.
• Future #3 Collapse:
  While all of the scenarios in this briefing assume a certain amount of environmental instability, in this scenario, a widespread refusal to prepare for and adapt to environmental problems has lead to persistent stresses on land and water resources. Cereals that form the cornerstone of national food security strategies, animal feed, and processed foods become very expensive and are hoarded by nations, companies, and individuals. A third of all the crops grown in North America and Europe are severely compromised and then obliterated. And an extended fuel crisis makes it increasingly hard even for people with resources to cope by having foods shipped to them from elsewhere.
• Future #4 Transformation:
  ab grown, in-vitro meat has been approved for sale in the United States and parts of Asia and Latin America since the mid-2010s. In response, many of the commodity crops that had been used in meat production have been repurposed for more direct human consumption. The shift has slowed down the environmental costs of food production and has dramatically lowered hunger—but that’s just one of the factors disrupting global food trade.
  3-D food printers, which layer food and flavors in precise ways, have been commercialized for home use and are in one in ten kitchens in the developed world. In Africa and Latin America, community groups have begun investing in shared food printers. As a result, entrepreneurs all over the world have established businesses that sell downloadable recipes that work with 3-D printers for everything from snacks to entire meals.

- Four Futures of Food: Alternative Scenarios Briefing Report (via here)