Farming

Folks looking to harvest a steady supply of fresh greens from their kitchen may have limited success with pots at the window. SproutHub automates growing on the countertop, with the promise of an easy weekly harvest.

Back in 2015, French startup Véritable hit Kickstarter with a countertop Garden designed to automate growing of fresh micro-greens and herbs. Now the company has returned with a modular system that can be tweaked for indoor and outdoor use.

Hog barns typically aren't the nicest places to be at the best of times, but try living in one during a heat wave. Scientists at Indiana's Purdue University have developed a self-activating hog-cooling pad for just such situations.

Nothing can rescue a bland meal quite like fresh herbs, but not everyone has access to outdoor space to grow their own. That's where indoor smart gardens come in, and the latest from Plantone allows growers to use regular soil and seeds.

I grew up with a ready supply of freshly picked greens and veggies from my parents' garden, but apartment dwellers don't have such luxuries. This is where indoor growing units can help, and the Nutroponics Garden Tower can host up to 100 plants.

Move over, cow burps. A team of scientists has shifted gears from the front to the back end of these methane-production powerhouses, using algae to curb gas emanating from their poop. It's a crap gig, but nature's best methane inhibitor is on the job.

While farmers have to perform a number of difficult tasks, tending to the grain stored inside grain bins (aka granaries) is particularly arduous – not to mention dangerous. That's where the Grain Weevil grain bin management robot is made to come in.

In an effort to keep livestock safe from coyotes while not harming the predators themselves, researchers ran experiments with a remote-controlled vehicle. The solution worked, hinting at a future in which robot ranch hands could work night patrol.

Herbicide resistance represents a huge problem for the agricultural sector. Exploiting molecular similarities between bacteria and plants, researchers have repurposed a "failed" antibiotic as an effective weedkiller that's safe for humans.

About 18% of the Amazon rainforest has been cut down since the 1970s. Seeking ways to help get some of that lost forestland back, researchers have turned to a rich soil created by the activities of the Amerindians thousands of years ago.

Nobody likes the idea of herbicides in their veggies, yet hiring workers to pick weeds by hand can be prohibitively expensive. The Vulcan farm implement offers an alternative, as it automatically spots and yanks weeds while leaving crop plants alone.

While crops do sequester some atmospheric carbon dioxide (CO2) via photosynthesis, they could always use a bit of help. California startup Andes is aiming to provide that help, by putting carbon-capturing microbes in the soil of farmers' fields.