Source: PixabayAs concerns for future food shortages grow, thanks to a combination of increased population and a decrease in the availability of farmable land, Luke's Research Scientist Risto Korpinen believes that one solution could be found in a material occupying space in sawmills -- sawdust.

"There has been a lot of discussion about the challenges that food production confronts in the future. That is also one of the reasons why I came up with this idea," Korpinen said.

Historically, wood has been used as an ingredient in foods to survive such events as famine and war. However, because sawdust is unfit for human consumption, Korpinen believes it could be a valuable substitute for the soy used to nourish fish in fish farms, thereby freeing up valuable farmland currently used to produce the soy. Soy plantations not only take up land that could be used to produce food for humans, they also contribute to deforestation.

"In Finland we use a lot of imported feed like soy. The industry is lacking a sustainable domestic option for fish feed," said Korpinen. "We could do these same things with potato or corn starch, too, but starch can also feed humans. In the U.S., they make bioethanol out of starch, even though there are plenty of people in the world suffering from hunger. It just goes against my morals to use food in fuel production."

Korpinene and colleagues will continue to investigate the steps involved with converting sawdust into fish feed and hope to have their research completed by fall of 2017.

"Everyone on our team has their own task reflecting their expertise. We have food scientists and nutrition experts, for example. At the end, researcher Frans Silvenius will do a life cycle analysis that will tell us how much energy and chemicals have been used in the whole process," Korpinen said.