Shifts and changes in climate can prove to be catastrophic for crop production. In an effort to combat the potential complications, a team of researchers is trying to optimize photosynthesis, the natural process all plants use to convert sunlight into energy and yields. The ultimate goal of the project, dubbed “Realizing Increased Photosynthetic Efficiency,” or …
“RIPE”… Engineering Crops to Produce More with Less Read More »
Researchers for the first time have made grafting work in “monocotyledons”, a type of plant that includes are some of the world’s most important plants economically and culturally, and account for most of our staple foods. The “near-impossible” technique could increase production and eliminate diseases for some of agriculture’s most imperiled crops. An estimated 60,000 …
New Grafting Technique Could Help Combat Pathogens in the World’s Most Imperiled Crops Read More »
Following the recent termination of the proposed SPAC for AeroFarms, the sustainable indoor agriculture company based in Newark, New Jersey, along with the poor Q1 results from AppHarvest, the applied technology company building some of the world’s largest indoor farms, many VC investors might be having second thoughts about the “Controlled Environment Agriculture” space, or …
When the Erie Canal opened in 1825, it quickly transformed the transportation of grain and other staple goods between the country’s coastal ports and interior regions to the west. The canal system greatly lowered the cost of shipping between the Midwest and the Northeast and almost immediately increased trade throughout the nation by opening eastern …
A Brief History of America’s “Prairie Skyscrapers” Read More »
Higher input costs for animal protein supply chains, including animal feed, labor, energy and freight, will be top-of-mind change drivers for the animal protein industry in 2022 according to RaboBank’s Global Animal Protein Outlook 2022. Although markets are expected to settle somewhat in 2022, many drivers of recent change will remain. Higher input costs for …
Rabobank Forecasts Another Tumultuous Year for the Animal Protein Industry Read More »
We’re all intimately familiar with the effects of heatwaves and droughts on crops, but plant researchers are taking a deeper dive at exploring how warmer nighttime temperatures are impacting crops around the world like corn, wheat, barley, and rice. From data that is circulating, the night minimum temperature of the contiguous U.S. has increased by …
Higher Nightime Temps Might Be More Worriesome Than We Thought Read More »
The USDA’s Economic Research Service has updated its annual “America’s Diverse Family Farms” report, which primarily focuses on the “family farm,” or any farm where the majority of the business is owned by the principal operator and persons related to them. USDA defines a farm as any place that, during a given year, produced, and …
Charles W. Howard was a farmer that couldn’t contain his displeasure with seeing Santas in frayed suits, cheap beards, and who also had inadequate knowledge of reindeer. So in 1937, he determined to improve the problems by starting a “Santa School”. History reports the first class consisted of just three men. Eventually, however, Howard would …
Despite most of us enjoying the beautiful weather this December, today marks the first day of Winter, with the Winter Solstice occurring at 9:59 p.m. CST on December 21. The first day of winter is also known as being the shortest day of the year for those of us in the Northern Hemisphere – it’s …
The argument is not about whether your family celebrates with a real or fake Christmas tree, but rather how you use the holidays to build a stronger bond within your family based on traditions and togetherness. Our family has always made the commitment to go with a real Christmas tree. All I can say, it’s …
