Nanoracks, a commercial space company plans developing orbiting greenhouses for super-resilient crops that would grow in the harshest environments on Earth. The American company, in Houston, Texas, contracted with the Abu Dhabi Investment Office (ADIO) to open a space farming research center in the United Arab Emirates (UAE). The lab would research resilient crops, fly the crops in space and subsequently test the ability of the crops to grow in arid conditions on our planet.Read More Here:https://www.space.com/space-greenhouses-nanoracks-food-crisisImage credit: Nanoracks/Mack Crawford)
Drones make growing grapes in the California vineyards more healthy.The drones utilize invisible light taking photos using multispectral cameras. They connect those images and then the composite image is processed by a proprietary Enhanced Vegetation Index computer algorithm. This creates a colored image which makes vine vigor visible which alerts the vineyard personnel in charge to various levels of health in their vineyard. Vigor maps are like compasses. They tell them where vines are weak.
A landmark effort in Coachella Valley, California is underway to bring the COVID-19 vaccine directly into the fields. Thousands of farm workers, considered essential workers in the U.S.A. are being pulled into pop-up vaccination clinics hosted by growers and run by the county Health Department.Covid-19 has been a tremendous problem in farming communities because workers at times do mot have access easily to water and soap for hand washing, live in close quarters and are not insured or far away from medical facilities. Many are in need of PPE.
Leaf Sensor technology has been developed by AgriHouse and University of Colorado that allows plants to communicate with humans about their water needs. This innovative new agriculture technology will save water and energy resources for farmers. The leaf sensor technology is funded and sponsored by the NASA and the National Science Foundation (NSF).
