The Big Data of Food

T H E B I G D ATA O F F O O D ( O R , L E T ’ S N O T L E AV E I T T O M A LT H U S )

TA L A L G . S H A M O O N I N T E R T R U S T

O C T O B E R 2 2 , 2 0 1 5

© 2015, Intertrust Technologies Corporation

H O W W E L A N D E D O N Y O U R P L A N E T ?

Intertrust is a 25 year old tech company based in Silicon Valley.We invented trusted computing over open networks like the Internet

Our products and inventions allow peopleto manage rights and policies across physical and virtual boundaries

We are now applying these technologies tothe Internet of Things and Big Data (where trust is an issue)

Our partner company Planet OS is dedicated tomining and organizing enormous data sets generated by planetary sensors


T H E T H I R D H O R S E M A N

Famine, the Third Horseman - “Dieu en Majeste” from the Angers tapestry - photo by Kimon Berlin obtained under Creative Commons License CC-BY-SA 3.0 http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/3.0/


T H E T H I R D H O R S E M A N

The human population expected to soar to 9.6+ Billion by 2050

Most of these people will live in the “wrong place”

Food and people may not be close to each other

Our current means of agriculture and food distribution will not scale

Famine, the Third Horseman - from the Angers tapestry


M A LT H U S 1 0 1“That the increase of population is necessarily limited by the means of subsistence

That population does invariably increase when the means of subsistence increase

That the superior power of population is repressed, and the actual population kept equal to the means of subsistence, by misery and vice“

Photo Credit: Wikipedia/Wellcome Images obtained for use under Creative Commons License CC-BY-4.0: http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/legalcode

http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/legalcode


S I M P L E P R E D I C A M E N T

We will either destroyour way out of the problem

or we can invent our way out of it


A R E V O L U T I O N I S N O T A D I N N E R PA R T Y



The Green Revolution brought dramatic changes in agriculture, pesticides, fertilizers and farming practices that broke through the population wall of the 1960s.

Came at a time of cheap energy, and mild climate and allowed growth


– PA U L R . E H R L I C H , T H E P O P U L AT I O N B O M B - 1 9 6 8

“I don't see how India could possibly feed two hundred million more people by 1980”

– M A R K T W A I N

“the report of my death was an exaggeration.”



Today, we are crushing biodiversity

Today, we are farming the wrong things in the wrong places

Today, we almost need a counterrevolution — no free lunch


Technology can again help us punch through the population wall

Internet technologies are disrupting agriculture, transport and retail - we can analyze the food cycle from seed-to-stomach and back

Connected sensors at every point, and computers to crunch the enormous amounts of data to look for patterns that we can act on

The answers are in the data - But vast amounts of data can hide the real answers; Big Data Lenses will help

T H E i G R E E N R E V O L U T I O N


“ I P O N E V E R Y T H I N G ” V I N T C E R F, “ I N T E R N E T P I O N E E R A N D D E V E L O P E R O F I N T E R N E T P R O T O C O L ( I P ) ”


“ I P O N E V E R Y T H I N G ” V I N T C E R F, “ I N T E R N E T P I O N E E R A N D D E V E L O P E R O F I N T E R N E T P R O T O C O L ( I P ) ”

Mobile data services enable Internet connections virtually anywhere on Earth

Devices in fields, oceans, satellites and mobile devices in people’s hands collect data and transmit guidance and control

Wearables and personal medical devices can monitor usage at the consumer end

T H E W O R L D I S S W I M M I N G I N S E N S O R S A N D D R O W N I N G I N D ATA


The data willnot be where you may want it

There’s going to be so much data that we’ll be looking for microscopic needles in the astronomical haystack

Sensors and data sets will be targets for cyber war. If you think burning someone’s fields is nasty, wait for what’s coming

B U T I T A I N ’ T A L L R O S YBetter Fleas

(analyzer)

Bigger Dog (data set)


Security for sensors and the data chain, and rights management and sharing between distributed data sets

Appropriately priced devices that are easy to set up and use

A “digital Hubble Telescope” to see patterns across enormous distributed data sets

The ability to combine data sets from all sources on demand

C H A L L E N G E S A N D R E S P O N S E S


F I N D I N G T H E S I G N A L I N N O I S E

Analyze data without moving it

Merge public and private data - keep results to yourself or share them

Bring the right data in at the right time

Pull data from diverse sources into one view -

see trends, find tipping points, etc.

EXPER IMENT

RESULTS


C O N S U M E R I Z AT I O N O F F O O D T E C HConsumer technologies are disruptive - big industry, agriculture, personal health, food, etc.

Mobile, Internet, etc. can drive ubiquitous sensors in devices, many open problems exist, especially around privacy, security and digital commerce

Social networks and sharing economy technologies are empowering farmers, consumers, etc. (Airbnb for farms, Uber for food transport, etc.)

The ability to control things at a small scale means we can have the advantages of conglomeration in a distributed way


W W W. P L A N E T O S . C O M

Some Analyses Generated by Planet OS

http://www.planetos.com


C O U N T Y W I T H B I G G E S T FA R M A R E A

D I S TA N C E B E T W E E N

C O U N T Y W I T H B I G G E S T P O P U L AT I O N

0 8 MA C R E S

FA R M T O TA B L E

1 8 5 0 1 9 0 0 2 0 0 0



Urban Agriculture Sites in Designated and Non-Designated Agricultural Zones Within Los Angeles

Original Source:“Cultivate LA: An Assessment of Urban Agriculture in Los Angeles

County”



A N E W H O P E


A N E W H O P E

Back to the Future: In the 60s, we integrated Ag and food to exploit advances in fertilizers, pesticides, cheap energy, etc. Today, we can do more locally with the same effect

Big Data systems and ubiquitous sensors can provide huge efficiencies for food growing, monitoring and delivery

Advances in science and technology can only support and enable - need to change policy and behavior and education

The Big Data of Food

Data & Analytics

Transcript of The Big Data of Food