Improving crop yields while conserving resources
When it comes to the health of the planet, agriculture and food production play an enormous role. According to the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations, roughly 37 percent of land worldwide is used for agriculture and food production, and 11 percent of the Earth’s land surface is used specifically for crop production. Finding ways to make agriculture more sustainable and efficient is crucial not only for the environment, but also for global food supply. Julia Sokol grew up far away from any farm. Born in Russia, Sokol and her family moved when she was 10 years old to New York City, where her father worked for the United Nations. These days, however, Sokol, a PhD student in mechanical engineering, spends a lot of her time thinking about agriculture. For the past two years, Sokol has been working on a drip irrigation project at MIT’s Global Engineering and Research...