Collaborate Disseminate
Agricultural fertilizers typically contain phosphorous, as it’s essential to growing plants. Unfortunately, though, it can become “locked” in the soil, and thus not available to crops. That said, it turns out that the addition of a microbe could unlock… Continue reading Tree microbes could help crops draw phosphorous from fertilized soil
Wheat is one of the planet’s most widely grown crops, so any increases in its grain yield could go a long way towards reducing world hunger. That’s where a new variety of the plant comes in, as its yield is reportedly up to 11 percent higher than that … Continue reading Genetically modified wheat boasts 11-percent higher yield
If you want to know the local soil conditions, it would be great if you could just ask an earthworm. Given that that’s an impossibility, though, scientists are now working on the next-best thing – earthworm-inspired soil-analyzing agricultural robots.C… Continue reading Earthworm-inspired robots may be coming to a farm near you
Although there are now a few different crop-spraying multicopter drones, fixed-wing drones are faster and have a longer battery range. That’s where the recently US-certified autonomous electric Pelican crop duster comes into the picture.Continue Readin… Continue reading Autonomous electric crop duster gets approval for US demos
In order to keep water from evaporating from the soil, farmers will often cover the ground around their crop plants with sheets of polyethylene plastic. There could soon be a more eco-friendly alternative, though, in the form of soybean oil-coated sand… Continue reading Soybean oil-coated sand could be a green alternative to plastic mulch
While crop-spraying drones do have some advantages over full-size piloted aircraft, they’re limited by their battery range. Dutch startup Drone4Agro is developing a solution to that problem, though, in the form of a range-extended electric multicopter…. Continue reading Extended-range agri-drone wouldn’t be limited by batteries
We’ve already heard about drones that spray crops with herbicides and fertilizers. The AeroSeeder is a bit different, however, in that (as you might have guessed) it disperses seeds that might otherwise be difficult to plant.Continue ReadingCategory: D… Continue reading AeroSeeder drone designed to speed the seeding of cover crops
Powdery mildew is a widespread fungal disease that attacks many crops. And while it typically has to be treated using fungicides, special ultraviolet light-emitting robots could soon prove to be a better way to go.Continue ReadingCategory: Robotics, Te… Continue reading UV-emitting robots roam vineyards to kill fungus
CRISPR-Cas9 gene-editing is one of the most powerful tools available to modern science, but genetically-modified organisms (GMOs) in food are subject to some tight regulations. Now, researchers at North Carolina State University have created a new vers… Continue reading New CRISPR method edits crops without technically making them GMOs
Like any good parent, it turns out that plants can use their own experience to teach their offspring about how to overcome tough times. Geneticists at Penn State University have manipulated the expression of one gene in a plant that makes them more res… Continue reading Stressed-out plants pass down “memories” to make offspring stronger