Controlled environment agriculture is rapidly becoming an important part of the global food system. For example, there has been much interest in the potential of large-scale, indoor agricultural production – often referred to as vertical farming – as a means to produce high quantities of produce. These “plant factories” are expensive to operate, however, in […]
Reclaimed or grey water is touted as a great means to save and reuse water where water resources are thin. A new study from the Hebrew University in Jerusalem makes us want to think twice about saving precious water: researchers studied the vegetables grown in reclaimed water and found traces of human pharmaceuticals used for treating […]
Growing green roofs is now mandatory for new buildings being built in Canada and France. Middle Eastern countries facing dire food and water insecurity know that farming close to home can cut down greenhouse emissions and if farmed hydroponically can drastically cut the water bill –– in some cases by 90%! Puttings its money where […]
It’s the middle of NYC AgTech Week. It’s a time where futurists growing hyperlocal food and technologies in New York City open their labs for urban food week. Tonight there will be a fish taco dinner prepared with fish raised on a roof in the city; the rest of the food was grown in urban […]
Look to Techcrunch any day of the week and see how investment opportunities abound in Agtech. Then go see Matt Damon in The Martian to get a sense for the future of your food. Combine trillion dollar opportunities with a market sprouting in the United States. It’s called “distributed agriculture” on Wall Street, or Controlled […]
Verizon (NYSE: VZ) is America’s #1 mobile provider and the company just announced finalists for their international Powerful Answers Award which will grant $1 million, $500,000 and $250,000 to the top 3 winning companies in the category Internet of Things (IoT). To break things up Verizon has created 3 categories: the two other categories in […]
Somewhere in the middle of Ontario is a company hidden from view. Sitting on 5 acres of reforested farmland is Blue Planet Environmental. I guess you can call them innovative scientists, who are using patented aeration technology and what they call “nano-bubbles” or really, really small bubbles of air, to make big changes in industries […]
When you talk with Sue Raftery you might think she’s on fire. Funny, because she’s leading a company that grows food on water –– using hydroponics, or water grown plants and vegetables to supplant and correct the damaging, conventional agriculture practices dominating our food chain today. How’s she doing it? The answer is AGROWN. Through AGROWN, […]
Qatar – the tiny desert nation known for sinking millions into futuristic follies like artificial clouds and underwater TV studios – has come down to earth with a plan to grow up to 70 percent of its own vegetables by 2023. Currently under 16 percent of their veggies are locally grown. “Cutting edge technology” will […]
Parents are happy to be sending their kids back to school soon. But Green Prophets everywhere know it’s open season to keep learning no matter your age. Urban farming is all the rage. Forget about buying at the Farmer’s Market. What about starting a hydroponics hobby garden or business in your backyard? Consider that NASA engineers […]
There are green things growing in a New Jersey public school, a small shift from the traditional farming that gives the “Garden State” its nickname. A newly installed lab within the school greenhouse will help teach a new crop of children to grow food without soil. Hydroponics brings far bigger benefits than keeping small hands […]
Urban farming is in the air and California is setting an example by creating the first American housing project of its kind with an urban farm built intentionally in the center of the community. The farm will be 7.4 acres and will include a teaching center for sustainable farming. Some 547 new homes have been […]
Now that I am developing flux, a space-age gadget for making hydroponics simple and efficient I can’t help but promote hydroponics everywhere — even and especially hydroponics from space! This week NASA scientists harvested their first space-grown food, grown on water with nutrients using hydroponics. This site is becoming a bit of an address for hydroponics, and we’re […]
Big agriculture is mainstream in the US, but growing our food has a long history. Until now, researchers believed farming was “invented” some 12,000 years ago in the Cradle of Civilization — Iraq, the Levant, parts of Turkey and Iran — an area that was home to some of the earliest known human civilizations. A […]
Strong crop yields, higher productivity and slower growth in global demand should contribute to a gradual decline in real prices for agricultural products over the coming decade, but nonetheless, prices will likely remain at levels above those in the early-2000s, according to the latest Agricultural Outlook report produced by the OECD and the United Nation’s Food […]