How Smart Farming is Impacting Smart Cities.

How Smart Farming is Impacting Smart Cities.The smart city is meeting the smart farm, but the nature of technology necessitates this relationship will be symbiotic not unidirectional. Increasingly, the smart farm will be impacting the smart city. What could be a more significant impact than solving the problem of getting food to ever-growing urban centers which are increasingly dependent on transportation and logistics to feed their millions? Statistically, less than two percent of Californians feed the other 98%. In addition, those same Californians, those feeding the 98%, are also providing specialty items such as delicious strawberries, tasty almonds, and enchanting wines to a good chunk of consumers of those items around country and the world. One reason they are able to provide so much for so many is that California farmers have embraced technology to increase yields and conserve precious and expensive resources like water, energy and land. Yields have been increasing for decades due to the ingenuity of the growers and their partners in both industry and research institutions, who have helped make American farms, ranches and vineyards some of the most efficient and effective staple and luxury crop producers in the world. Today, as cities and their inhabitants become “smarter”, they will increasingly be fed by “smarter” farms. California is currently seeing a spillover of the newest technological innovations from Silicon Valley, into the Central, San Joaquin and Salinas Valleys; adding to the existing base of advancements in precision irrigation, spectral imaging, genomics, environmental, animal and plant sciences, and dozens of other areas of practice. Many of the applications in use in today’s cities will likely find their place on the farm or vineyard, especially when it comes to IoT (Internet of Things) technologies. more

How Ngirumugenga rose from a 'small' farmer to a millionaire.

How Ngirumugenga rose from a 'small' farmer to a millionaire. Farming is a lucrative venture that ensures good returns on investment if good farming practices are undertaken. That is the testimony of Peter Ngirumugenga, a 38-year-old farmer from Sibagire Cell in Rwamagana District who earns over Rwf 30 million from farming. The father of three has found a fortune in banana farming and piggery. At his farm in Sibagire Cell, the sight of over 700 pigs feeding is a spectacle to behold. With 22 permanent workers and 30 casual labourers Ngirumugenga is determined to make the best out of his farming activities. In 2010, he invested in banana growing, starting with one hectare which used to produce harvest of one tonne of bananas per month. Today, his farm has expanded to 12 hectares, and he gets about 20 tonnes of banana produce per month, earning him Rwf800,000 monthly. Previously, a bunch of bananas at his plantation would weigh about 20 kilogrammes but thanks to good farming practices, he now harvests bunches that weigh as much as 80 kilogrammes. more

Pressure cook’ food waste to make fuel faster.

Pressure cook’ food waste to make fuel faster.A two-step method that includes hydrothermal liquefaction and anaerobic digestion can speed up the process of making biofuel from food waste while reducing carbon use, new research suggests. “Food waste should have a high value. We’re treating it as a resource, and we’re making marketable products out of it,” says lead author Roy Posmanik, a postdoctoral researcher at Cornell University. “Food waste is still carbon—a lot of carbon.” The researchers show that by using hydrothermal liquefaction before anaerobic digestion, virtually all of the energy is extracted from the food waste. In hydrothermal liquefaction, the waste is basically pressure cooked to produce a crude bio-oil. That oil can be refined into biofuel. more

Factors to consider when choosing a substrate for lettuce production, greens production.

Factors to consider when choosing a substrate for lettuce production, greens production.Whether a grower chooses to propagate in rockwool, cellular foam or an organic substrate, there are other factors that can impact crop production. Since lettuce, greens and microgreens are relatively short term crops compared to other greenhouse vegetables like tomatoes and cucumbers, a grower has to make sure that he starts out with a consistent substrate and quality seed. Sylvain Helie, an agronomist and phytotechnologist at Jiffy products of America, said one of the key factors in growing lettuce, greens and microgreens is having a good seed supplier. more

How to use organic fertilizers .

The switch from inorganic to organic is not simple and farmers must be willing to put in the time and energy to ensure that the change is successful.It takes commitment to grow organically as switching from an inorganic to organic fertilizer is not an easy process. The goal of any fertility program, regardless of whether it is with organic or traditional inorganic fertilizers, is to ensure that all of the essential plant nutrients are present in appropriate amounts. Kansas State University horticulture professor Kim Williams said whether the nutrients are injected into the irrigation water or pre-planted in the growing medium, ensuring that proper levels of all essential nutrients are provided to the plants “can be surprisingly tricky.” more

The future of humanity may depend on organic farming.

The future of humanity may depend on organic farming. Prince Charles has warned that the ‘very future of humanity’ may depend on organic farming. Speaking as he celebrated the 70th anniversary of the Soil Association in London, the heir to the throne insisted that eco-friendly practices, which had once seemed so controversial, were now backed by ‘sound science’. He warned that they may be our only hope of reversing the drastic damage being caused to the environment, which could see large swathes of farmland destroyed forever ‘within sixty harvests’. Charles, who has long practiced organic farming himself as well as being an advocate of it. source

A new strain of rice resistant to drought has been produced.

A new strain of rice resistant to drought has been produced. Scientists at the RIKEN Center for Sustainable Resource Science (CSRS) have developed strains of rice that are resistant to drought in real-world situations. This study published in Plant Biotechnology Journal, reports that transgenic rice modified with a gene from the Arabidopsis plant yield more rice than unmodified rice when subjected to stress brought by natural drought. T The study was carried out in collaboration with researchers from the International Center for Tropical Agriculture (CIAT) in Colombia and the Japanese International Research Center for Agricultural Sciences (JIRCAS) in Japan.