Summary
For millennia, humanity has depended on photosynthesis to cultivate crops and feed a growing population. However, the escalating challenges of climate change and global hunger now compel us to surpass the efficiency limitations of photosynthesis. Here, we propose the adoption of an electro-agriculture (electro-ag) framework that combines CO2 electrolysis with biological systems to enhance food production efficiency. Adopting a food system based entirely on electro-ag could reduce United States agricultural land use by 88%, freeing nearly half of the country’s land for ecosystem restoration and natural carbon sequestration.