02/06/2024 SOURCE: newatlas.com

Synthetic microbes gang up to safely smash weeds and fuel wheat growth

Herbicides were touted as ‘miracle’ chemicals when they changed farming practices forever in the late 1940s, but researchers are now desperate to find a more sustainable, soil-friendly and non-toxic way of wrangling weeds while promoting crop growth. Now, researchers out of China believes they've made a major breakthrough that could give wheat crops an eco-friendly future.

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05/23/2023 SOURCE: newatlas.com

Scientists name the top plants for bumblebee-friendly gardens

A study of nearly 23,000 interactions between different species of bumblebees and flowers has determined what these environmentally important fuzzy buzzers like to dine on. The information will help professional and amateur conservationists cater to these picky eaters.

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John LaRose Jr.
shared this article 1 year ago
Topics: Agriculture Global, Education U.S. MidWest, Sustainability, Renewable Energy (Solar/Wind),

Silver mirror triples efficiency of perovskite solar cells

Perovskites are one of the most promising new materials for solar cell technology. Now engineers at the University of Rochester have developed a new way to more than triple the material’s efficiency by adding a layer of reflective silver underneath it.

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Nancy Kavazanjian
shared this article 1 year ago
Topics: Equipment/Machinery, Ag Innovation,

Not as the headline implies!

Dung-powered tractor drives down agricultural emissions

New Holland Agriculture has announced a new tractor designed to run on fuel created on-site using cow manure. The T7 Methane Power LNG offers the same power and torque as a diesel tractor, but it's part of a system that can greatly reduce emissions.

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Nancy Kavazanjian
shared this article 2 years ago
Topics: Research, Genes /Genetics, Biotech,

Bioactive spray could be an alternative to genetically modified crops

Although genetically modified crops have some big advantages over their regular counterparts, initially creating the modified plants can be quite challenging. Scientists have now developed a simpler approach, in which normal plants are altered with a spray that's applied to crops.

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John LaRose Jr.
shared this article 2 years ago
Topics: Agriculture Global, GMO's, Research, Ag Global Specialty Food, Genes /Genetics, Ag Innovation,

Glow-in-the-dark plants could act as passive lighting for public spaces

A decent chunk of energy usage goes towards lighting, so scientists at MIT are developing a new kind of passive lighting – glow-in-the-dark plants. In the latest experiment, the team has made them glow much brighter than the first generation plants, without harming their health.

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John LaRose Jr.
shared this article 2 years ago
Topics: Agriculture US, Crop Consultant, Education U.S. NorthEast, Agriculture Global, Beekeeping, Economics, Food/Nutrition, Research, World Hunger, World Population, Pollinators,

Pollen-sized particles give bees immunity to insecticides

Bees play a critical role in pollinating many of plants that humans eat and are therefore key to food security, but populations continue to decline rapidly around the world. A number of factors are contributing to this, including habitat loss and drought, but a tiny new ingestible particle developed at Cornell University takes aim at a key one, by detoxifying deadly insecticides before they can do these important critters harm.

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John LaRose Jr.
shared this article 2 years ago
Topics: Precision AG , Agriculture US, Agriculture Global, Economics, Research, Renewable Energy (Solar/Wind),

Transparent electrode lays foundation for see-through solar cells

With a view to one day developing transparent solar cells that can double as windows in homes and other buildings, an international team of scientists has demonstrated a new type of transparent electrode that can function as a key building block. The breakthrough overcomes some performance issues with previous efforts in this area, and lays the groundwork for advanced tandem solar cells that combine the strengths of two separate but complimentary technologies.

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John LaRose Jr.
shared this article 2 years ago
Topics: Precision AG , Agriculture Global, Water, Economics, Sustainability, World Population, Renewable Energy (Solar/Wind),

1,000-foot multi-rotor floating Windcatchers to power 80,000 homes each

Norway's Wind Catching Systems (WCS) has made a spectacular debut with a colossal floating wind turbine array it says can generate five times the annual energy of the world's biggest single turbines – while reducing costs enough to be immediately competitive with grid prices.

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06/01/2021 SOURCE: newatlas.com

Pollen-sized particles give bees immunity to insecticides

Bees play a critical role in pollinating many of plants that humans eat and are therefore key to food security, but populations continue to decline rapidly around the world. A number of factors are contributing to this, including habitat loss and drought, but a tiny new ingestible particle developed at Cornell University takes aim at a key one, by detoxifying deadly insecticides before they can do these important critters harm.

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