Crops

GMOs in food are subject to some tight regulations. Now, researchers at North Carolina State University have created a new version of CRISPR that lets scientists edit crops without introducing new DNA, meaning they technically aren’t GMOs.

Geneticists at Penn State University have manipulated the expression of one gene in a plant that makes them more resilient to environmental change – and found that this is passed down to future generations.

Semi-transparent solar cells could be built into the glass roof panels of greenhouses, capturing light at wavelengths that plants don’t use anyway. Models suggest that in some cases these greenhouses could become completely self-sufficient.

Despite the fact that corn is one of the world's most commonly-grown crops, it still doesn't tolerate cold temperatures well. That could be about to change, though, as scientists have developed a hardier strain.

Not only are diamondback moths quite harmful to brassica-genus crops such as cabbage, broccoli and canola, but they're also very resistant to insecticides. Help may be on the way, though, in the form of a genetically-engineered version of the moth.

Much of the world's soil is too salty for crops. There's hope, though, as scientists have developed a method of growing plants in "unusable" soil.

Herbicides hurt the environment, and they're costly. A new device could drastically reduce the need for them, while also providing crops with mulch.

Spraying crops with weed-killer is not only harmful to the environment, but it's also costly for farmers. With those problems in mind, scientists have conducted a study which suggests that less herbicide could be used for the same results, if applied at the right time of day.

​Living in the soil, roundworms can infect plants via their roots, which is why many plants have evolved to produce an immune response when the worms are detected. Now, scientists have harnessed that response to create an eco-friendly form of crop protection.

A Stanford University team is developing plants that can better absorb iron from the soil. By making it easier to ingest the trace mineral, it may be possible to open up the roughly one-third of the world's arable land that is unsuitable for growing staples like maize and soybeans.

Mitochondrial DNA in plants is so complex that scientists haven’t yet been able to edit the genes in there. Now a team of Japanese researchers has managed to do just that, which could help improve the genetic diversity of crops.

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.