New Technology to Help Quench Thirsty Crops

Under last year's drought, many of the nation's crops withered. Since then Michigan State University's researchers have been testing a new technology in water-saving membranes to help yield a larger crop this year. So far they have dramatically increased their corn and vegetable production on their test farms by almost 175%.

Developed by Alvin Smucker, MSU professor of biophysics, this subsurface water retention technology uses contoured, engineered films, placed at different depths below the root zone of the plant to retain soil water. Internal drainage is permitted during excess rainfall by proper spacing, which also helps with root growth.

Smucker and Kurt Thelen, along with horticulturalists Mathieu Ngouajio and Ron Goldy will lead teams of scientists, engineers and industrial agricultural experts in implementing the new technology on farms in irrigated sandy regions of southwestern Michigan and the arid regions of the southwestern and the mid western U.S.

The prototype can be used on a broad range of agricultural crops, as well as feedstock and plants grown specifically for fuel production, on marginal lands. SWRT-improved irrigated sands produced 145 percent more cucumbers than did the control fields without the water-saving membranes. As mentioned above,  researchers also dramatically improved irrigated corn production, increasing yields 175 percent.

With last year's drought conditions covering as much as 2/3 of the U.S. Crop yields were cut dramatically and it is believed that chronic drought may become the new normal for the U.S. due to the increasingly changing climate. Fortunately, these researchers are making headway with this new technology, so there's still hope yet to aid in this issue.

James
Garden Media Group

The Farmery, an Urban Vertical Farm Project

Industrial designer Ben Green and grower Tyler Nevers have successfully developed and raised $25,000 for The Farmery - a small scale urban farm and market on Kickstarter.

The Farmery is an integrated retailing and growing system for locally grown food that raises the value of the produce through a stimulating retail experience and reduces the costs of the produce by consolidating the entire food distribution system. It is constructed of stacked shipping containers and greenhouses oriented to form a vertical farm. It uses a proprietary growing system to grow edible plants vertically on the sides of the containers. They hope for this to soon become commonplace in urban areas.

The Farmery is able to offer an entire diet of mushrooms, fish, greens and herbs for prices that meet or beat organic supermarket prices. The team for The Farmery has two prototypes located in Raleigh, NC. These are used to develop new growing systems so that they can discern that the growing systems work and are profitable. These also provide opportunities to test market the crops at local farmers markets, restaurants and retailers.

For more information on The Farmery including the designs and layout of the prototypes visit: www.thefarmery.com