Food waste is one of the great inefficiencies of our food system: roughly one-fifth of food available to consumers is wasted at household, retail and food-service levels, accounting for a sizeable share of global greenhouse-gas emissions and lost value along the supply chain (UNFCCC 2024). Cutting that waste requires better decisions about what to keep,…
A Digital Assistant for Community-Supported Agriculture
Freeing Time for Fieldwork and Community Solidarity-based Agriculture (Solawi) is built on trust, transparency, and shared responsibility. Producers and consumers jointly negotiate needs and contributions, and prices are meant to cover real agricultural costs rather than follow market logic. For many, the appeal of Solawi lies in collective workdays in the fields — reconnecting with…
The most important key is the one we rarely talk about.
ESC was never about efficiency.It was about interruption. After my last post on Game Over, many reflections converged on one insight: What we often call escape is not a weakness.It is a source of strength. In games, failure is not a problem.It’s how the system learns. You explore.You test.You fail — safely. And the game…
Digital Farming Is Only as Strong as the Systems Behind It
Digitalisation in agriculture is often discussed as a global transition, as if farms everywhere are moving along the same technological paths. My own experience suggests something more nuanced. Having grown up in the Dominican Republic and now living and studying in Switzerland, I have come to realise that agricultural digitalisation is not simply about adopting…
When Artificial Intelligence becomes a Partner
Artificial intelligence is increasingly discussed as a tool that optimizes processes, increases efficiency, or supports decision-making. However, empirical evidence shows that AI has already moved far beyond this instrumental role. For a growing number of people, AI functions as a social and emotional counterpart. One they talk to daily, confide in, feel attached to, and…
Ethics & Trust in Artificial Intelligence
How much of your life are you willing to trust to a machine? AI has quietly become part of our everyday lives. It’s always available, stores huge amounts of information, and can help us instantly. Most of us use it daily without thinking about what that trust really costs. After the lecture on ethics and…
What if the game became real?
What if I could acquire skills the way I do in a game – not symbolically, but for real? • Cognitive upgrades via AI assistance• Physical boosts through robotics• A security “buff” via autonomous systems• No training. No learning curve. No risk. Just equipment.Sounds playful. The consequences are not.Because this is no longer science fiction….
The Hidden Cost of Perfectly Optimized Food
Imagine you walk into a food factory fifteen years from now. The space is black and sterile, humming with the sound of machines. No windows. No natural light. No humans in sight. A mixing machine adjusts water temperature and flour hydration in real time, its sensors reading dough elasticity to the microsecond. Perfect loaves emerge…
AI’s Hidden Environmental Cost: How Bad Are AI Systems Really for the Planet?
Artificial intelligence has become one of the most talked-about technologies of the 21st century. Tools like ChatGPT feel light, quick and helpful, but behind every answer lies a huge machine infrastructure that consumes vast amounts of energy and natural resources. While AI can support society in many ways, its environmental footprint is becoming impossible to…
Digital Food Business Week 2026
The Digital Food Business Week from the 5th to the 9th of January 2026 gathers a series of speakers around the topic of Digitalization and Food at the ZHAW Wädenswil as part of the consecutive MSc Life Science Specialization Food & Beverage Innovation. This event aims to educate students about digitalization in the food sector…
FoodArchitecture 