Solar energy for sustainable food and agriculture: developments, barriers, and policies

Given the world’s population growth which is expected to reach more than 9 billion people by 2050, the global demand for food will drastically rise, threatening food security as a critical component of sustainable development. Recent developments of urbanism and agroindustrialization have imposed pressure on agriculture with a decisive role in supplying the global food demand. Statistics reveal that in the shadow of the COVID-19 pandemic world hunger has been increased so that the prevalence of undernutrition reached nearly 9.9% in 2020 from the value of 8.4% in 2019. Regarding these, employing more efficient and sustainable production methods in the agri-food sector with more adaptability to climate change is crucial. According to the Food and Agriculture Organization, a large part of different agri-food supply chain (AFSC) activities extremely depends on fossil fuels, contributing 24% of total global greenhouse gas emissions. Hitherto, several strategies have been employed to reduce GHG emissions and mitigate their associated destructive impacts that among them, the substitution of fossil fuels with alternative low-carbon energy sources has received remarkable attention. To guarantee energy and food security, employing “sustainable” agricultural systems and energy-smart AFSCs with high accessibility to modern energy services are considered viable solutions. Among different types of renewable energies, solar energy has been extensively utilized to supply the heat and electricity demands for different conventional and modern agricultural tasks. This chapter studies the current status of the agriculture and food production systems and discusses their associated challenges from a global point of view. Additionally, the advent of solar energy technology in the agriculture sector and its integration with sustainable food and agriculture systems are discussed, while related barriers and global policies are explored.