The family sits down to breakfast. It is May 2032. Tara is looking forward to a bowl of Weetabix. But it is not there. "We're making some changes," her mother says. "From now on, we're all going to live on bacteria pancakes." 

This could be common if George MonbiotA columnist for The Guardian whose previous books include Feral: Searching for Enchantment on the Frontiers of Rewilding. has his way. In his book Regenesis: Feeding the World without Devouring the Planet, he applauds the work of scientist Pasi Vainikka. Vainikka hopes to create protein from bacteria.

The protein would be as good as that produced by farming, but would require up to 1,700 times less land. Farms could be returned to the wild.

Monbiot argues that farming is hugely inefficient. It degrades the land, causes pollution, makes animals suffer and uses vast amounts of fossil fuel.

Thanks to the overuse of fertiliser, the world now has to rely on a small selection of crops. Rice, wheat, maize and soybeans provide 60% of all the calories humans need, and they come almost entirely from six countries: the US, Canada, Argentina, India, Russia and - before the war - Ukraine.

"The average minimum distance at which the world's people can be fed is 2,200 kilometres," Monbiot writes.

Monbiot's proposed solution is radical: get rid of farming and find other sources of food. Farmers are opposed to this. 

One of them is James RebanksFrom an old farming family, he left school at 15 with two GCSEs. He later studied for A-levels at night school and won a place at Oxford University., who has a farm in the Lake DistrictA mountainous area of northwest England. It contains the country's largest natural lake, Windermere.. This is an area which Monbiot has described as "sheepwrecked", claiming the animals have ruined a landscape which should be full of trees.

Rebanks believes in regenerativeImproving or bringing back to life. agriculture: using traditional farming methods to help biodiversity. His book English Pastoral is a powerful argument against industrial farming.

On his own farm, he has re-established hedges, planted thousands of trees and turned some areas into ponds. He moves his sheep and cattle to new fields every couple of days and leaves each field fallowUnused, so that the quality of the soil improves. for up to 150 days a year.

Farmers, he says, need to show they are the "best stewards of the land." Rather than rewilding, humans should "accept that we're fairly brutal changers of the world and try to be a little bit better at it".

Farmers need support. Rebanks argues we must buy more local produce, and be willing to pay more. Food should account for 12% of a household's budget, rather than the present 7-8%.

Yes: It is highly inefficient and damaging to the environment, as well as cruel to animals. We should rewild as much of the world as we can so that nature can restore a proper ecological balance. 

No: Before farming, humans survived by hunting and gathering wild food, but that is totally impractical today. There are now so many people to feed in the world that industrial agriculture is essential.

Or... Everyone should be encouraged to grow their own food, and there should be limits on how far food can be transported. Rundown parts of cities should be rewilded instead of farms.

George Monbiot - A columnist for The Guardian whose previous books include Feral: Searching for Enchantment on the Frontiers of Rewilding.

James Rebanks - From an old farming family, he left school at 15 with two GCSEs. He later studied for A-levels at night school and won a place at Oxford University.

Lake District - A mountainous area of northwest England. It contains the country's largest natural lake, Windermere.

Regenerative - Improving or bringing back to life.

Fallow - Unused, so that the quality of the soil improves.