The future of our food system is uncertain. A whopping 2.9 trillion pounds of food are wasted annually around the world, many people lack access to fresh produce, and numerous countries consume unsustainable quantities of meat.

But what will our food system look like a decade from now? Food entrepreneur Kimbal Musk (yes, he's Elon's brother) has a few ideas.

Musk is devoting his career to helping the U.S. population eat healthier, more sustainable food. He runs two restaurant chains, called The Kitchen and Next Door, both of which serve dishes made with strictly local ingredients. He plans to open another eatery this summer, offering affordable, healthy fast food. And he started a nonprofit program that installs what he calls Learning Gardens in schools. So far, he's brought gardens to 300 schools across the US in order to teach kids about agriculture and provide a source of fresh produce.

Musk is hopeful about the future of food — here are several of the predictions he described to Tech Insider.

The Kitchen Chicago. Courtesy of Kimbal Musk

We will see more plant-based meat.

According to the United Nations, many nations consume unsustainable levels of meat — the UN presented a study earlier this year showing how producing and eating less meat would be better for the planet. And indeed, many people have been switching to veggie-centric lifestyles.

Musk predicts we will continue to find more vegetarian alternatives to animal farming, an industry that emits 7.1 million tons of CO2 every year.

"We're moving to be more of a plant-based society," he says.

Recent food startups, including Beyond Meat and Impossible Foods, are already working to make Musk's vision a reality by creating 100% plant-based meat that you can buy in grocery stores. The new Beyond Burger, which launched May 23, mimics beef and even sizzles when you throw it on the pan.

Beyond Meat's 100% plant-based burger. Leanna Garfield/Tech Insider

Food will be fresher and more local.

Musk says that when people buy food from restaurants or grocery stores in the future, they will increasingly ask for it to come from local farms. He cites a recent Gallup poll that found 45% of Americans seek organic food in their diets.

"People want real food," Musk says. "The demand for it is through the roof."

Restaurants and grocers will likely start working more directly with local farmers, he adds.

One way to grow more local produce is through vertical farming, which has the potential to produce millions of pounds of leafy greens indoors year-round. For example, vertical farming company AeroFarms will soon grow produce near New York City, and estimates that it will ship its greens to grocers in less than a week, so they're incredibly fresh on the shelf.

A Sweetgreen salad. Alana Kakoyiannis

The US government will give new incentives to farmers.

Even though more people are demanding organic produce, fewer than 1% of American farms are organic.

According to Musk, this is mainly because government tax subsidies incentivize the production of corn ethanol (a fuel that's combined with most gasoline). Since 2009, the US government designated at least $186 million toward corn ethanol subsidies.

More than 60 other countries also have mandates for producing corn ethanol. As Forbes notes, those incentives are also becoming a moral issue, because they can cause food prices to rise, which disproportionately affects the poor.

"They're [The government is] scamming us to grow ethanol instead of real food," Musk says.

But in the future, he predicts that Americans won't put up with that — which will hopefully persuade the US government to follow suit and encourage farmers to grow other products.

Reuters/Karl Plume

You will know everything about your food.

Much of the food we eat at restaurants has sugar and preservatives, even if it's branded as "healthy." But it'll be harder to fool us in the years to come, Musk says.

The internet already offers a lot of information about food, but Musk believes this data will become even more open and accessible. In the future, we'll likely be able to find out where every ingredient came from, as well as its nutritional value.

If a restaurant claims that a meal is healthy, we'll be able to fact-check them, he says. All we'll need is our phones.