max facts
From Food
Waste to Rubber
Researchers at Ohio State
University have discovered
that food waste can partially
replace the petroleum-based filler
that has been used in manufacturing tires
for more than a century. In tests, rubber made with
the new fillers exceeds industrial standards for performance,
which may ultimately open up new applications for rubber. As
Katrina Cornish explains it, the technology has the potential to solve
three problems: It makes the manufacture of rubber products more
sustainable, reduces American dependence on foreign oil, and keeps waste
out of landfills. Cornish, an Ohio Research Scholar and Endowed Chair in
Biomaterials at Ohio State, has spent years cultivating new domestic rubber
sources, including a rubber-producing dandelion. Now, she has a patent-pending
method for turning eggshells and tomato peels into viable—and locally sourced—replacements for
carbon black, a petroleum-based filler that American companies often purchase from overseas.
- hydroponics.com.au
Youth Urban Farm Program Uplifts East Oakland Kids
Though she didn’t grow up gardening, Kelly Carlisle has ended up
as one of the Bay Area’s most prominent urban farm proponents.
In 2010, Carlisle started Acta Non Verba: Youth Urban Farm Project
(ANV), a non-profit that introduces low-income East Oakland
children to the joys of gardening while contributing financially
to their future. Local children farm a small plot at Tassafaronga
Recreation Center and sell the produce through
farmers’ markets and a CSA. All the proceeds go
into individual savings accounts for each child,
earmarked for their education. There’s also
an eight-week summer camp, camping and
field trips, and community farm days. “For
generations, our communities have been told
that farming is not for us,” Carlisle says. “When
we talk to our kids about what a farmer
looks like and where farmers live,
it’s very abstract. Nobody
knows a farmer, it’s all
what they’ve seen
on TV. There
are no 4-H
clubs in the
flatlands.”
Since their
founding,
they’ve
served over three
thousand local kids.
- kqed.org
26
tapped in
Vertical Farming Market
Worth USD$6 Billion by 2022
Vertical Farming is expected to cross
USD$6 Billion by 2022, according
to new research from Market
Research Engine. Vertical
farming is an urban farming
method where plant cultivation
is carried out in multi-storied
building greenhouses using
hydroponic or aquaponic growth
mechanisms. The vertical farming
market includes those companies
engaged in providing food by using
a vertical farming method and also
the companies that provide various
infrastructural services and equipment
required for vertical farming. One of the
main points in providing quality food
with the minimal use of pesticides is that
these food products can be consumed
by critically ill patients and those with
dermatological problems. The report
segments the global vertical farming
market on the basis of functional device,
growth mechanism, and geography.
The report also details the vertical
farming market by crop types, with more
emphasis on the key vegetables and
fruits that are produced in vertical farms.
- marketresearchengine.com