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Ag News

“Green Ammonia” is Gaining Traction

Ammonia, also known as NH3, is a colorless gas composed of nitrogen and hydrogen atoms. The pungent gas is the basic building block for ammonium nitrate fertilizer, which releases the critical crop nutrient nitrogen. However, the ammonia production process is energy-intensive and relies heavily on fossil fuels. Low-carbon production methods for "green ammonia" are gaining traction, though, and some think ...
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How Growing Demand for Sustainable Aviation Fuel Could Slow Down the Renewable Diesel Industry

More than a decade ago, the Federal Aviation Administration set a goal for US airlines to use 1 billion gallons of sustainable aviation fuel annually by 2018. The Biden administration upped the target in 2021 to 3 billion gallons per year by 2030. Last year, US production reached just 15.8 million gallons, less than 0.1% of the total fuel consumed ...
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BioLumic Partners with Gro Alliance to Scale UV Light Treatment Technology for Corn and Soybeans

BioLumic, a New Zealand-based agtech company, has teamed with US seed producer Gro Alliance to scale a novel technology that uses UV light to treat seeds. Biolumic says its treatments can improve yield and quality, as well as make plants “more armour-plated” without needing to be re-bred. Biolumic's light treatment was first developed for specialty-crop seedlings such as tomatoes, lettuces, ...
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How an Illinois Farmer Helped Tame the West

It was this week back in 1867 that Lucien B. Smith of Kent, Ohio was issued patented #66,182 for "barbed wire". Smith's design called for spools of four short, sharp metal spikes at right angles. The spools would revolve loosely and be set every 2 to 3 feet along the fence wire. Soon thereafter, several other patents were issued for ...
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“First Day Of Summer” Officially Begins

For some in the U.S. where the temperatures have been scorching hot and extremely dry, it might be hard to believe that today is just the first day of Summer... but it is! In the Northern Hemisphere, the start date of summer is based on the summer solstice, when the sun is in the most northern point from the Earth’s ...
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“EnGeniousAg” Developing Low-Cost, Instant Read Nitrogen Sensors

Ensuring crops get the optimal amount of nutrients is one of the most straightforward ways of maximizing yields. Making sure no more than what's needed gets applied is also a surefire way for producers to control input costs. However, knowing what those ideal levels might be can be a time-consuming and pricey challenge but new instant read sensors from ag ...
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The Pony Express Rides Again!

If you live along the original Pony Express trail and see a guy on a horse thundering by with a mail pouch, it (probably) wasn't a ghost. Some 650 riders are currently participating in the annual National Pony Express Re-Ride, which reenacts the mail delivery service by horseback that briefly ran between Sacramento, California to St. Joseph, Missouri.The original Pony ...
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Got Milk…In Your Gas Tank? A Canadian Distillery is Turning Dairy Into Fuel

Since 2018, "Dairy Distillery" in Ontario, Canada, has been turning a waste byproduct of cheesemaking into vodka and cream liquors. Now, the company will help members of the Michigan Milk Producers Association (MMPA) turn their waste into biofuel.The MMPA is a farmer-owned cooperative of over 1,000 dairy farmers in Michigan, as well as Indiana, Ohio, and Wisconsin. MMPA partnered with ...
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Iowa’s Aging Farmland Owners Increasingly Lease Out Their Land

Every five years, Iowa State University conducts the "Iowa Farmland Ownership and Tenure Survey," which provides a current snapshot of the forms of ownership, tenancy, and transfer of the state's farmland. This series of studies concerning land ownership is unique to Iowa, having been collected by Iowa State researchers since 1949 and mandated by the state to be conducted every ...
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Protein Made From Air and a Simulated Photosynthesis Among the Finalists in NASA’s Deep Space Food Challenge

As NASA gets closer to sending the first astronauts to Mars, they have a lot of critical details to work out. To help them get there, NASA, in coordination with the Canadian Space Agency (CSA), has enlisted the public's assistance in developing new technologies and systems to produce one of the most important fuels of all - food. NASA just ...
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