Ecopreneurs and agricultural waste management

Over the last century, food demands were increased because of the global population quadruplication. Many strategies were used to increase the crop production, either by increasing the amount of agricultural land to grow crops or by enhancing productivity on existing agricultural lands through fertilizer and irrigation and adopting new methods like precision farming. Not only these strategies did not completely meet the food demands but also caused a significant amount of agricultural waste that created additional serious environmental problems. Although one of strategies in management of agricultural wastes such as rice husk, sugar cane bagasse, wood waste, and bamboo leaf is using them as a new input to increase the production growth as along as the population growth, considering limited potential to increase the use of conventional inputs, especially land, but still, a large part of agricultural waste is either burned or left in nature. It is clear that the previous strategies were not proportional enough to prevent environmental problems. It seems that entrepreneurs with relevant skills and knowledge in ecology and economy can solve the problem. This article focuses on how to use the innovative potential of such entrepreneurs, called ecopreneurs, to encourage more startups that would create the new jobs needed to address our environmental problems.