Eloise Bihar / University of Colorado

"Cheap sensors for smarter farmers" help farmers make better decisions

Many of the technologies showcased in this year's ARPA-E Summit were in the farming sector. Here are two that caught this writer's eyes. First up is a 3D-printed, biodegradable soil sensor that checks moisture and nitrogen levels. One of the benefits of using print electronics is being able to…

Photo by Sky Greens

Singapore vertical farm exploring opportunities with EU and UK partners

Skygreens is now exploring opportunities with partners in the UK and Ireland. With a system that can be sited in a wide variety of environments from farm to industrial the Skygreens' tower system is ergonomically designed to allow organic, efficient growing and harvesting utilizing minimal water and…

Hydrocobotics project: Safe human-robot collaboration

HydroCobotics consortium is aiming to develop a safety protocol that will make it safer than ever to robotize hydroponic systems. The goal of the Hydrocobotics project is to integrate commercially available sensors with a robotic gripper and additional protective equipment, designed for this new…

SpaceX launches ants, avocados, and robot to space station

A SpaceX shipment of ants, avocados and a human-sized robotic arm rocketed toward the International Space Station on Sunday. The delivery, due to arrive Monday, is the company's 23rd for NASA in just under a decade. A recycled Falcon rocket blasted into the predawn sky from NASA's Kennedy Space Center.…

CubicFarms collaborates with Microsoft on cloud services for indoor farming tech

CubicFarm Systems Corp., an agtech company, announced that it has selected Microsoft’s technology to launch the next generation of indoor farming technologies for fresh food and fresh livestock feed. CubicFarms will be working with Microsoft’s cloud services to deliver technology that enables farmers to…

How do cybersecurity gaps threaten our electric infrastructure?

Cybersecurity threats to electric infrastructure continue to be a top-of-mind topic for many business executives. From healthcare and data center facilities to commercial and industrial buildings, businesses depend on electric power to continue their operations. Moreover, this dependence has been further…

Swedish food trends are shifting, highlighting many opportunities

“When it comes to producing food, Sweden needs to take the leap from rain-fed fields to food factories and greenhouses,” says Johan Jörgensen, co-founder at Sweden FoodTech. Johan states that data and transparency should be improved. Without proper data, preferably open data, it is really hard to…

Seasony

Harvesting robot switches to crop monitoring in after-hours, using spare battery

“We always had the vision to alleviate the labor stress,” says Christopher Weis Thomasen, co-founder and CEO of Seasony. Starting in 2018 with a 40m2 farm based in Copenhagen, multiple things were tested as the team wasn’t much home in plant science. Eventually, the heavy labor in the farm was…

Is 5G the missing link to autonomous greenhouses?

The four speakers in a Tomatoworld webinar last week did not have an unequivocal answer to the question of whether 5G is the missing link on the road to autonomous greenhouses in horticulture. However, horticulture is keen to test what is possible with 5G. And not with what telecom providers are…