The Van Trump Report

Agriculture

Ag Stakeholders Concerned About Potential Impact of New “Natural Asset Companies” on Land Use 

A new type of company could be allowed to list on the New York Stock Exchange starting next year. Known as “natural asset companies,” the Securities and Exchange Commission is currently considering a proposal for the asset type submitted by the NYSE and Intrinsic Exchange Group, a private firm that developed the idea. The proposal …

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“CattleProof” Uses NFTs to Identify and Track Cows

NFTs, or “non-fungible tokens,” are probably best known for trendy digital collectibles like Bored Ape that are built on the Ethereum blockchain. These unique assets can be used to certify the provenance, authenticity, and ownership of a piece of digital media. They can also be used to represent real-world physical assets. A Wyoming company called …

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Rural America at a Glance 2023 Edition: Population Growth Rebounds as Poverty Declines

The US rural population is growing again after a decade of decline, according to USDA’s 2023 edition of “Rural America at a Glance,” with growth of approximately a quarter percent from 2020 to 2022. This year’s report also shows America’s rural population is experiencing declines in, with -9.7% fewer nonmetro counties in 2021 experiencing persistent …

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“Enhanced Rock Weathering” Can Sequester Carbon and Enhance Crop Yields

Spreading rock dust on farms, a technique known as “enhanced rock weathering,” is one of the lesser-known carbon removal strategies. According to some estimates, the extremely simple technique could potentially lock up as much CO2 as planting a trillion trees. It might also boost crop yields, according to recent research. Enhanced rock weathering is based …

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Merging Crops and Solar with “Agrivoltaics”

“Agrivoltaics” is the use of land for agriculture and solar energy generation. Sometimes referred to as agrophotovoltaics or dual-use solar, the aim of the concept is to help keep farmland in production, in turn easing the land-use conflict that often surrounds solar installations in rural America. According to the US Department of Energy, solar accounted …

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Working to Create the First Center for “Space Agriculture”

Humans have lofty goals of spreading out across the universe and establishing outposts on the moon, Mars, and beyond. While the technologies that will carry us to these distant locales continues to advance, another major obstacle that needs to be solved is food production. At University of Nebraska-Lincoln, engineers Yufeng Ge and Santosh Pitla want …

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Livestock Guardian Dogs are Making a Comeback

Livestock guardian dogs are one of agriculture’s unsung heroes. These highly specialized dogs have been used by humans for centuries to protect sheep, cattle, and other domestic livestock against predators. Despite their long history, guardian dogs have only been commonly used in the US since around the late 1970s. As a result, many livestock producers …

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New “End-Effector” Developed by MSU Researchers is Potential Game-Changer for Agriculture

The farm labor shortage is a persistent pain point for producers across America. Researchers at Mississippi State University have developed a two-fingered robotic arm that works with camera-based perception system to identify and pluck one cotton boll at a time. The new “end-effector” is seen as potential game changer for cotton producers. In robotics, an …

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