Future of food: how we grow

As the world population grows and food security is threatened, the pressing challenge for agriculture is to produce more food, more efficiently and more sustainably. Here are a couple of the latest innovations.

Read more of our future of food special:

• What we eat " How we eat
  
• How we cook " How we share it

"I know it sounds utopian", says Steve Fry, apologetically, as he explains the merits of multi-layer hydroponics. Known colloquially as "vertical" farming, the approach in which plants are grown in water instead of soil has grown significantly over the past 20 years. Fry, as head of hydroponics hardware firm HydroGarden, believes it is the next step in reforming the wasteful, polluting, oil-dependent aspects of the farming industry, and preparing for future threats to food security.