So here it goes. There were in total of 5 speakers or speaker groups each discussing the concept of Protofarm 2050. These speakers were: 5.5 Designers, Dunne & Ruby, Futurefarmers, Revital Cohen, Frank Tjepkema.

Here's what they had to say:

5.5 Designers
Vincent Baranger and Anthony Lebossé spoke about the expansion of cities and how they ill quite literally take over most of the farm land. So with this in mind, they explained how we would have to look to the inner cities for new ways of farming food specifically the plants and the animals that can be found in the cities. They also touched on not wasting food and how too much of the food that is thrown away is actually still good and that it can be used to improve our sustainability.

Dunne & Raby
Fiona Raby joined us without her husband, both of whom teach, what is continuously referred to as the rather strange, design interaction course at The Royal College of Arts. Raby discussed who the future activists of the world are going to be as they are the very people who will be finding ways of farming in the city. She speaks of 250 000 plants that are in existence, but only a fraction of them are editable, but through synthetic biology, they can be modified to be made more useful. An interested idea if you consider what science and biology have already done for the world.

Futurefarmers
These speakers joined us via a video link because they believe in preserving the environment so much that flying is just something they are not prepared to do. Their presentation was more of a montage that delved into the world of real farming and how, unless something is done, farms will disappear. The spoke about cultivating farms and how people should become farmers in order to allow people to become self-sustainable. They also talked about how with the coming future, cultures are going to have to mix which will lead to complexities, but also more of a unity between people who can work together. Their final message: grow more food now!

Revital Cohen
Now this presenter gave me something to think about. Cohen discussed the possibility of looking into nature and using what nature has developed and using that to our own advantage. She focuses this mainly on the electric eel that has an organ that specifically produced electricity. The organ is an electrocyte and Cohen believes that we could also genetically engineer an organ like this eels and implant it into humans. She says that by removing the appendix and replacing it with this organ, all one would have to do then is consume sugar as the process of your body burning it would recharge this organ. Is this practical? I'm not sure really, but it is looking at sustainability in a rather unique way.

Frank Tjepkema
Tjepkema comes from a system design background so it's interesting to hear him speak about something that, in my mind, has very little relation to the topic, though I feel I am wrong in this once again. Being of Dutch descent, he discusses the oogst which is the "harvest" in Dutch. He links this to the idea of a biosphere or even a mega farm, both of which are designed for sustainability and efficiency and essentially to eventually allow for a larger population to exist. The way he touches on these mega farms is in light of a theme park - this place where so much is going on at once in one place. So by taking a farm house and building onto it various elements of farming, you are condensing space and creating something a lot more efficient and, with other such designs, you are allowing for a greater production of food.

So confusing as this might be to an extent - this is only the summary - I think it gives us an insight into a rather harrowing image of the future and just exactly where we are heading if cities continue to expand and if we don't pay close attention to what it is we are doing to the earth.