Case-Study during my CAS at écal
In Switzerland, 2.8 million tons of food waste are generated each year. Around 11 % of it happens in agriculture. Up to 90 % of the losses in food production could be avoided. When food is wasted, all the resources used to grow it are wasted too: water, soil, fuel, labor and money.

At the end of the CAS we were asked to build scenarios for ourselves. I chose the topic of food, and I focused on one question: What is the future of food waste? This came from my short engagement at Gmüesgarte, an association that sells vegetables rejected by retailers because they do not meet strict standards. It showed me how deeply waste is tied to systems, habits and expectations. Food waste is not only about ecology. It is also cultural and relational behavior. It shows how closely or how loosely we stay connected to what nourishes us. The final question was: How are we going to eat in the Future?

At first all those fuzzy fragments needs to be sorted. Signals came from many angles: zero-waste restaurants, plant-based diets, pesticide rules, community-supported agriculture, more young people entering farming, climate change, or even the popularity of the game Farming Simulator. Each signal was tagged with time horizons, drivers (STEEPL) and probabilities.

Signals “below the radar” added more layers: closed-loop farming, keyline design, liquid meals, indoor farming, eating rituals, and new land-use planning. These fragments pointed to cultural and technological shifts that may grow stronger over time. Futures thinking is less about prediction and more about paying attention.

From mapping to clustering, uncertainties unfolded and a challenge space opens. Would our relationship towards food be close or are we becoming detached from it? How are cities going to develop, to urban centers or built-up land? These questions became the axes through which scenarios emerged.

Among the four scenarios, I put my focus on the Harvesting Change. On a macro level, it imagines a Switzerland that has become one connected urban area. Not dystopian, but dense. Farmland has disappeared to make way for much needed housing, yet agriculture continues through vertical and urban systems integrated into buildings and neighborhoods. The population has grown beyond 10.5 million through migration. AI has taken over parts of the service industry, and people work more in social roles and agriculture. Life moves at a slower pace.

On the meso level, rooftops and facades turn into growing spaces. Communities will grow their own food together, it’s a core activity. Climate change brings new varieties and flavors. Livestock becomes rare, and plant-based food becomes the norm. Land is scarce but valued. Cooking, harvesting and eating become shared rituals.

The micro level makes this scenario personal. Mia and Liam, both born in 2024, are 24 years old in this imagined 2048. They live in a shared apartment powered by solar energy and biomass. Their raised beds supply most of their food. They cook with everything from root to leaf. An app connected to their crops helps them decide what to cook with each harvest. Technology supports their awareness instead of distancing them from it.

This scenario does not idealize the future or ignore its difficulties. Futuring and conscious design is a process, attentive, iterative and relational. What we design shapes the world, and that brings responsibility. Food teaches us this clearly. Eating is personal, but also collective. Imagining food futures means imagining futures of care, access, culture and community. It encourages us to rethink how cities feed people, how systems are shaped and how design can help ideas take root. Harvesting Change is more than a scenario. It’s a reminder that the future is not fixed. This scenario thinks of those who do the hard work of feeding us. As in Asia, every grain of rice in the bowl should be eaten to honour that which nourishes us.