California faces major environmental challenges: debilitating fires that have devastated the country and city alike, contaminated groundwater because of agricultural residue, air pollution and greenhouse gas emissions contributing to climate change (frequently originating from the farm), a reduction in soil quality, and lessened productivity of agricultural land. California is committed to carbon neutrality by 2045. Meeting this objective will not be easy. Fortunately, California has probably the most advanced educational-agro-industrial complex, with research universities that develop creative solutions and agricultural and industrial centers that implement them and creatively make them even better. This integrated effort between academia and industry can develop more sustainable and profitable natural sectors in California, enhance energy independence, and substantially increase the well-being of rural communities in the Central Valley and Sierra.
The bioeconomy that utilizes renewable natural resources using advanced technologies can play a major role in the transition toward sustainability. We will show the likely impact of the bioeconomy’s contributions through its impact on four main elements: fire, water, land, and air.
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Every year, California produces 50 million tons of residue biomass from pruning trees, removing undergrowth, and from agricultural and municipal waste. Pyrolysis converts organic material like waste products to bio-oil, biogas, and biochar (like charcoal) by burning the raw materials without oxygen. There has been progress in improving the machinery to conduct pyrolysis to make it more efficient and precise, and digital twin technologies and improved modeling and materials can lead to cheaper and more reliable products. In addition, there is the challenge of locating pyrolysis facilities to reduce transportation costs and balancing the cost of collecting and transforming the feedstock versus shipping the final product. We see the emergence of new technologies that can produce bio-oil, which can contain 40-50% of the feedstock carbon; biogas, which is a good substitute for natural gas; and biochar, which can store carbon for hundreds of years. Research suggests that recycling waste products for valuable fuel and carbon storage can meet 30% of California’s decarbonization targets in the transportation sector.
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Water has been the limiting factor of the growth of California agriculture. The water challenge has two dimensions: quality and quantity. In particular, the use of agricultural fertilizers and pesticides, as well as animal waste, increases the amount of nitrates and other chemicals in California’s water, and groundwater aquifers are highly contaminated. California researchers are working on mechanisms to sustainably recycle seawater and contaminated groundwater to increase water availability as well as water quality. California is a coastal state, and marine resources can be used to produce macroalgae as feedstock for food, fuel, fine chemicals, and other products. Research on and use of algae has only started recently, but it has desirable properties, and with commitment the size of the industry could increase from $10 billion a year to $100 billion and even more.
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Climate change is likely to raise temperatures throughout the state, reducing the productivity of some of the more southern regions and may even offering opportunities in the North. California agriculture is already and will adapt to these changes in climate conditions by relocating agricultural production (some pistachio farms are moving to northern regions of the Central Valley) and can also benefit from new varieties that are more susceptible to heat. In the past, U.S. agriculture was able to develop varieties that are resilient to changes in weather conditions, but this development was slow and far from perfect. The new tools of biotechnology, including gene editing, are promising to develop new capacities that will allow the development of varieties that will be more resilient to changes in weather conditions. Furthermore, improved breeding can make California livestock more resilient to changes in weather and may prevent the migration of agricultural production out of the state. With improved technologies, California can export knowledge about climate change adaptation globally.
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California agriculture is a source of air pollution. In the past, rice burning reduced air quality in Northern California, and livestock produced methane, a main greenhouse gas. The bioeconomy can provide circular solutions to these pollution problems. For example, some animal waste can be converted into protein by feeding it to insects like the black soldier fly. Another part of animal waste can be converted into biogas using pyrolysis.
California is not unique in facing issues associated with the challenges of fire, water, land, and air, however, some of these challenges are especially acute here. We can find sustainable and efficient solutions that require more investment in multidisciplinary teams to address the paradox of the bioeconomy and invent solutions that will be implemented by agriculture and other industries.