max FACTS
Organic Greenhouse-Grown Strawberries Set to Debut
A new Nature Fresh Farms greenhouse will produce the first organic strawberries grown under glass in the U . S . The 45-acre greenhouse in Ohio is fully dedicated to growing organic strawberries , which is much easier in a controlled environment than outdoors . “ While production of greenhouse-grown strawberries continues to grow every year , currently , no one else is growing organic greenhouse strawberries in North America ,” says Matt Quiring , VP of sales and marketing for Nature Fresh Farms . “ We feel we ’ re well positioned to fill a need in supply that nobody else can . Investing in organic greenhouse-grown strawberries provides us an opportunity to lead the category .” In addition to being organic , the new 45-acre expansion will also be FairTrade certified . “ These strawberries carry a lot of weight with organic strawberry shoppers in particular . Not only do they offer value for the consumer , but FairTrade strawberries also fit with our ‘ Growing for a Kinder Future ’ way of thinking ,” says Quiring .
— hortidaily . com
Study Shows Lettuce Can Take Up Tire-Wear Toxins
Chemicals from tire wear could get into vegetables via sewage sludge and wastewater , according to a new lab study . The pollutants contained in the particles could get into the vegetables grown there . Researchers at the Centre for Microbiology and Environmental Systems Science ( CMESS ) at the University of Vienna investigated whether chemicals released from tires find their way into lettuce plants and ultimately end up on our plates . The research , published in the International Journal of Environmental Science and Technology , shows the lettuce took up all the compounds studied — some of them highly toxic . Driving a car produces tire wear particles that get blown into the environment by wind and washed into rivers and sewage by rain ; in total , about one kilogram per person a year . Through the atmosphere and with wastewater or sewage sludge used as fertiliser in agriculture , the tire particles can reach agricultural soils . There , potentially harmful chemicals might be released from the tire into the environment .
— univie . ac . at
Rice Breeding Breakthrough Could Feed Billions
An international team has succeeded in propagating a commercial hybrid rice strain as a clone through seeds with 95 percent efficiency . This could lower the cost of hybrid rice seed , making high-yielding , disease-resistant rice strains available to low-income farmers worldwide . Rice is relatively costly to breed as a hybrid for a yield improvement of about 10 percent . This means the benefits of rice hybrids have yet to reach many of the world ’ s farmers . One solution would be to propagate hybrids as clones that would remain identical from generation to generation . Many wild plants can produce seeds that are clones of themselves , a process called apomixis . “ Apomixis in crop plants has been the target of research for over 30 years , because it can make hybrid seed production can become accessible to everyone ,” says researcher Venkatesan Sundaresan . “ The resulting increase in yields can help meet global needs of an increasing population without having to increase use of land , water , and fertilisers to unsustainable levels .”
— phys . org
20 Maximum Yield