Computer science can help farmers explore alternative crops and sustainable farming methods

(The Conversation is an independent and nonprofit source of news, analysis and commentary from academic experts.)

Barath Raghavan, University of Southern California and Michael Kantar, University of Hawaii

(THE CONVERSATION) Humans have physically reconfigured half of the world’s land to grow just eight staple crops: maize (corn), soy, wheat, rice, cassava, sorghum, sweet potato and potato. They account for the vast majority of calories that people around the world consume. As global population rises, there’s pressure to expand production even further.

Many experts argue that further expanding modern industrialized agriculture – which relies heavily on synthetic fertilizer, chemical pesticides and high-yield seeds – isn’t the right way to feed a growing world population. In their view, this approach isn’t sustainable ecologically or economically, and farmers and scientists alike feel trapped within this system.

How can societies...