Farms That Rise to the Challenge
One reason that vertical farming remains a small, obscure niche is that farmers need to make money, not just food; many skeptics argue that whatever energy and money are saved by shortening the distance from farm to table is lost by the high cost of artificial lighting and other equipment needed to produce food in urban settings. New technologies and techniques, however, are emerging to make vertical farms a more viable option.
 
Can A Tiny Wasp Save The Citrus Industry?
Researchers in Arizona are collecting new data on a wasp that may help slow the spread of citrus greening, a plant disease that has devastated millions of acres of citrus crops. The disease has already wreaked havoc upon the $10 billion citrus industry in Florida, where scientists are trying to produce greening-resistant trees through conventional breeding. The problem is that these trees will require years of testing. So researchers are scrambling to find short-term solutions.
 
Salt-Resistant Rice Offers Hope for Farmers Clinging To Disappearing Islands
Ghoramara is one of thousands of islands that make up the delta on India's eastern border with Bangladesh. Rice is the staple crop, and growing it requires abundant fresh water. In a rice paddy, the brackish water that surrounds these islands can be devastating. Farmers in the Sundarbans are now planting salt-resistant rice.
The island is shrinking quickly but at least locals can grow food while they remain.
 
A Boon for Soil, and for the Environment
Agriculture is often cast as an environmental villain, its pesticides tainting water, its hunger for land driving deforestation. Worldwide, it is responsible for nearly a quarter of all greenhouse gas emissions. Now, a growing number of experts, environmentalists, and farmers see fields as a powerful weapon in the fight to slow climate change, their soil a potentially vast repository for carbon storage.