New Atlas

Environment Audio available

Cotton waste finds new life as eco-friendly plastic

Ben Coxworth June 14, 2019

When a cotton gin is used to separate cotton fibers from their seeds, a lot of lint is produced as a waste product. Currently, much of that cotton lint is just burned or put in landfills. Thanks to recent research out of Australia, however, it may soon be converted into biodegradable plastic.

PhD candidate Abu Naser Md Ahsanul Haque (left), Dr. Maryam Naebe and associate research fellow Dr. ...

Digital Cameras

Gallery: Aerial photography turns large-scale farming into abstract art

Rich Haridy June 13, 2019

We've all had that surreal experience of looking down out of the window from a plane and suddenly seeing familiar environments from completely new and strange perspectives. This gallery features the work of several photographers who find incredible abstract patterns in large-scale agriculture.

A spectacular set of images from Mitch Rouse looking a wheat fields during harvesting

Science

Microneedle patch makes for speedy identification of plant diseases

Ben Coxworth June 10, 2019

When farmers find sickly plants in their crops, it's important that they find out which malady is responsible, as quickly as possible. New microneedle technology could help, paving the way for a handheld device that would provide the answer within minutes, right in the field.

The disposable patch gathers genetic material containing both plant DNA, and the DNA of disease-causing organisms

Biology Audio available

Long-lost "tasty genes" could soon be spliced back into store-bought tomatoes

Michael Irving May 14, 2019

It’s no secret that tomatoes plucked from the supermarket aisles just aren’t that tasty. To find taste genes that could be spliced back into commercial crops, researchers have complied a pan-genome of all cultivated and related wild tomato species, uncovering almost 5,000 previously-unknown genes.

Researchers have completed a pan-genome of all cultivated tomato breeds, uncovering thousands of unknown genes that ...

Robotics

SwagBot autonomous agricultural robot to hit the farmers market in 2020

Loz Blain April 9, 2019

Back in 2016, we wrote about the Agerris SwagBot farming robot and its abilities in crop inspection, weed removal and yield counting. Now, having raised US$4.6 million for commercialization, the company is looking to get an AI version of the robot onto the market within a year.

The SwagBot autonomous farm robot has received enough funding to commercialize it by 2020

Drones Audio available

Crop-spraying Agro drone is made to take on helicopters

Ben Coxworth February 19, 2019

According to Latvian entrepreneur Elviss Straupenieks, it costs about US$65,000 a year to pesticide-spray an average-size vineyard using a helicopter. His alternative? Well, he claims that his company's AirBoard Agro drone can do it for half as much – plus it offers a few other advantages.

The Agro drone has eight motors/props, mounted on four arms

Environment Audio available

China and India lead the way in "greening" the Earth since 2000

Michael Irving February 12, 2019

A new study of satellite data has shown that the Earth has gotten “greener” in the last 20 years or so, with the biggest contributors being China and India. Before we celebrate though, there are a few caveats to consider.

Satellite data has shown that the Earth has gotten 5 percent greener in recent years, but ...

Environment

Reclaimed smoke-stack mineral could help grow crops

Ben Coxworth February 6, 2019

Sulfur is often chemically "scrubbed" from the flue-gas emissions of coal-burning power plants. Gypsum (aka calcium sulfate) is produced as a byproduct of the process, and typically ends up in landfills. According to new research, however, it could be used to boost crops in a number of ways.

Gypsum can be mined from the earth, but it's also readily available as an emissions-scrubbing byproduct

Science Audio available

New-and-improved protein-rich rice has higher yields

Ben Coxworth January 23, 2019

According to the ASA, it's an unfortunate fact that many people in developing nations don't get enough protein in their diets. What they often do get a lot of, however, is rice. So, scientists have improved upon a type of rice that has over 50 percent more protein than regular varieties.

Prof. Herry Utomo evaluates the growth of new generations of high-protein rice lines

Robotics Audio available

Autonomous rice transplanter set to head for the paddies

Ben Coxworth December 19, 2018

It was just this July that Japan's Yanmar Agri Corporation unveiled a line of driverless agricultural tractors. Now, as part of the same Smartpilot system, the company has announced an autonomous rice seedling-transplanter.

The YR8D, A will be available in Japan as of Feb. 1st