max facts
growing tips, news & trivia
Coffee Cherry Pulp Converts to Nutritious Flour
Billions of pounds of coffee cherry pulp are produced each year as a byproduct of the global coffee industry, which
often goes to waste, but one enterprising company is converting some of that into a flour that can be used as a
nutritious alternative to grain-based flours. The aptly named Coffee Flour only has a tiny bit of caffeine and does
not taste like coffee. The company is currently running coffee waste-to-flour operations in Hawaii, Nicaragua,
Guatemala, Mexico, and Vietnam. The company’s founder, Dan Belliveau, refers to its product as a “found
food” that can reduce waste while also generating more revenue for the growers. “The coffee cherry
waste stream has historically been something that had to be dealt with, as it takes a significant amount
of property to store coffee cherry pulp throughout harvest time,” he says. Coffee Flour is advertised as
containing more iron than spinach and more fiber than whole grain wheat flour.
– treehugger.com
National Organics Standards Board
Can’t Decide if Hydroponics is Organic
At its annual meeting in mid-November, the National Organic Standards
Board voted 10-4 to send the decision of whether hydroponic-grown
produce should be certified as organic back to committee. This move
maintained the status quo of hydroponic operations being able to apply
for organic certification. The questions the NOSB continues to debate
is if organic farming requires soil. Traditional organic farmers
say fostering fertile soil is a vital component to the organic
definition, while hydroponic farmers argue that they simply
recreate the biological processes found in fertile soil in
different media. Mexico, Canada, Japan, New Zealand,
Holland, England, Germany, Italy, France, Spain, and
17 other European countries all prohibit the sale of
hydroponic produce as organic. However, many
hydroponic growers in Mexico, Canada, and Holland
sell their hydroponic produce as certified organic in the
United States thanks to their ambiguous policies.
– prweb.com; nationalgeographic.com.au
University of Iowa Updates
Greenhouse with Hydroponic System
The greenhouse on top of the University of Iowa Biology Building
East is getting a much-needed update. The greenhouse’s new
hydroponic system will allow for larger plants and a larger variety of
produce for the UI Gardeners, who help run the greenhouse. “The
new system is much deeper and you can have things like tomato,
watermelon, squash, peppers—all kinds of stuff—because it allows
the roots to grow,” says Sophia Coker Gunnink, co-president of
the UI Gardeners. The group is hoping to use this new excess
of fresh food in its free produce program and as consistent
donations to non-profit centers. Although the greenhouse is
not a new feature on campus, the UI Gardeners also hope they
can make it more well-known, especially to students looking
for a quiet reprieve in a bit of nature.
– daily-iowan.com
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Maximum Yield USA | January 2017