Prof. Evan Fraser appeared on CTV Your Morning Mar. 16 talking about the benefits of using high-tech gadgets in farming.
Director of the Arrell Food Institute at U of G, Fraser said many technologies that have been transforming medicine are being used in farming. From robotic milking of dairy cows to weed-detecting drones, Fraser said, many high-tech systems will allow us to produce more food on less land. He said that while innovations might improve food production, they won’t necessarily be a fix for food insecurity, which he said is largely a social issue and not an agricultural one.
Fraser holds the Canada Research Chair in Global Food Security, and studies the social and environmental consequences of food price volatility. Co-author of the book Empires of Food: Feast, Famine and the Rise and Fall of Civilizations, Fraser was the first U of G professor to receive a prestigious Pierre Elliott Trudeau Fellowship.