Nanotechnology in Food and Agriculture

Abstract

Nanotechnology, the manipulation of matters at the scale of atoms and molecules, is rapidly converging with biotechnology and information technology to radically change food and agricultural systems. Over the next two decades, the impact of nano-scale convergence on farmers and food will exceed that farm mechanization or of the Green Revolution. Agriculture, according to the new nano-vision, needs to be more uniform, further automated, industrialized and reduced to simple functions. In our molecular future, the farm will be a wide area biofactory that can be monitored and managed from a computer and food will be crafted from designer substances delivering nutrients efficiently to the body.This review article is an attempt to identify the key nano-scale technologies which are reshaping our agricultural and food systems, and identifying the most recent scientific development in this vital field.