Aussie Taps into Hydroponic Vanilla Growing
When Australian inventor David Soo learned of the lucrative
market for fresh vanilla, he developed a commercially viable
method of growing the sometimes tricky and labor-intensive
crop. He built a custom, 535-square foot greenhouse with
controlled growing conditions that can be adjusted remotely.
Soo has 200 vanilla vines that are growing three times faster
than in a plantation environment thanks to vertical soil-filled
trellises, which allow the vines to take root and get nutrients at
all levels. The trellis columns rotate automatically so the vines get
equal light. “The trellises are designed for what we call threedimensional
plants — because they’re vines and they have their root
structures coming out of the nodes at all different parts along the
vine, they don’t come from the bottom,” says Soo, adding he was
confident of yielding about 2,200 pounds of vanilla beans from his
crop, which would be worth about US$387,000.
— abc.net.au
USDA Announces Urban Agriculture Grants
The US Department of Agriculture (USDA) recently announced the
availability of $3 million for grants through its new Office of Urban
Agriculture and Innovative Production. The competitive grants
will support the development of urban agriculture and innovative
production projects through two categories: Planning Projects
and Implementation Projects. “These grant opportunities underscore
USDA’s commitment to all segments of agriculture, including swiftly
expanding areas of urban agriculture,” says Bill Northey, under secreta
for Farm Production and Conservation. “Such projects have the poten
address important issues such as food access and education and to su
innovative ways to increase local food production in urban environmen
USDA is making $1 million available for projects initiating or expanding
farming efforts of people and organizations in urban areas and suburb
$2 million is for Implementation Projects that accelerate existing and e
models of urban, indoor, and other practices that serve multiple farme
— hortdaily.com
Startup Generates Interest with Environmental Breakthro
A Purdue University-affiliated startup focusing on technology that turn
wastewater algae into specialty chemicals recently received its second
in just two weeks. Gen3Bio boasts proprietary technology that redirec
from an environmental hazard into profitable, environmentally friendly
Gen3Bio got a $20,000 investment through the Elevate Nexus Regiona
Seed competition and another $20,000 pilot plant grant. Algae is prod
wastewater treatment facilities and is typically disposed of in a landfill
cost and subsequently releases greenhouse gases into the atmospher
technology transforms the waste algae into biobased specialty chemic
aquaculture fish food, succinic acid, and biodegradable plastics. “The
to repurpose algae from costly waste (into) beneficial material. Our pa
enzyme technology breaks open the algae and extracts the nutrients
required to create chemicals that create useful and environmentally
beneficial products,” says Kelvin Okamoto, founder and CEO of Gen3B
— purdue.edu