Young lettuce plants poke through holes cut in the foam lids of a hydroponic growing bed in a greenhouse, where the Chester County Food Bank grows seedlings and produce, on the Springton Manor Farm in suburban Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. REUTERS/Tom Mihalek

Farming Without Soil Seen As Solution in Land without Water
Growing lettuce in the desert is not most people's idea of how to make a success of farming, but Amr Bassiouny believes he is on to something. The 30-year-old chief executive of Egyptian Hydrofarms says he is growing salad greens at his farm on the outskirts of Cairo using 90% less water than traditional methods, and at the same time obtaining better yields.

For These Entrepreneurs, Cutting Food Waste Starts in a Maggot Bucket
Mad Agriculture is a startup that puts larvae in bins full of food waste—pulp from a local juice company—and lets them chow down for days. The flies aren't attracted to humans and aren't considered pests. Instead they're known for their ability to aid in decomposition of organic materials like food waste.

An (Edible) Solution to Extend Produce’s Shelf Life
What if a Florida tomato could be left on the vine long enough to turn red and fully develop its flavor—and still be ripe and juicy when it arrived at a grocery store in New York days later? That is precisely the promise of a start-up in Southern California, Apeel Sciences, that aims to make obsolete the gas, wax and other tricks growers use to keep fruits and vegetables fresh over time.

If We Develop Africa’s Bioeconomy It Will Be as Transformative for Us as Digital Has Been
According to a new study by the Stockholm Environment Institute, new opportunities for economic transformation are already being built on Africa’s abundant biological resources. The emerging bioeconomy has the potential to transform primary production, especially in agriculture, aquaculture, forestry, health, and industry.