The Van Trump Report

Month: September 2022

How Dust Bowl Irrigation Innovations Helped Transform Agriculture

The “Dust Bowl” of the 1930s was named for the choking dust storms that swept across wide swaths of Texas, New Mexico, Colorado, Nebraska, Kansas, and Oklahoma from approximately 1930 through 1936. By 1940, some 2.5 million Americans had pulled up stakes and abandoned the Great Plains along with tens of thousands of farms. While …

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RYSE Aero Plans to Have Farmers Flying Across Fields By Next Spring

Farmers and ranchers might have a new way to get around next spring if all goes as planned for RYES Aero Technologies. The company is aiming for an early-2023 release date of its RYSE RECON, its first electric vertical takeoff and landing (eVTOL) platform. Or as RYSE Aero CEO Mick Kowitz calls it, “an aerial …

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Walmart Takes a Stake in Rancher-Owned Sustainable Beef LLC

Sustainable Beef LLC is getting a big boost from Walmart to build its new facility in North Platte, Nebraska. The world’s largest retailer will take a minority stake in the $325 million meatpacking plant slated to begin operations by late 2024. Walmart will also get the majority of the beef produced at the plant, guaranteeing …

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Future “Smart Crops” Could Have Genetic On-Off Switches

Scientists at Stanford University have been exploring ways to make critical crops better able to withstand the stresses of climate change. While many of these plants might naturally adapt over time, scientists worry that changes are happening too rapidly for nature to keep up. The researchers think a solution could be genetic circuits that “smart …

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This Startup is Looking to Grow Rice In the Ocean… Then Perhaps Wheat and Corn

Ocean agriculture startup “Alora” is using CRISPR tools in their pilot program to grow rice plants on land in salty waters and eventually plan to move them to floating platforms off the coasts of African and Asian countries. To thrive in a saline environment plants like seagrasses and mangroves have had to adapt and eventually …

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Potentially Fatal Cattle Disease Spreading in US Through Asian Longhorned Ticks

Cattle producers need to be aware of a potentially fatal disease known as “Ikeda” that is currently circulating in several states. The disease is transmitted via Asian longhorned ticks, which have been confirmed in 17 US states. Ikeda has been identified in 12 of those so far and is blamed for the death of at …

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