“Intelligent” lighting options could maximize your growing capabilities by replicating the sun’s spectrum. Are they right for you and your operation? Ned Madden | Greenhouse Management Magazine | October 7, 2014 Greenhouse growers around the world are converting their greenhouses from traditional incandescent lighting – usually power-hungry, high-pressure sodium (HPS) or metal halide (MH) high-intensity…
‘Polymers in Agriculture and Horticulture’
“Polymers in Agriculture and Horticulture” (Rapra Review Reports – 2004) by R.P. Brown. Polymers have been used in agriculture and horticulture since the middle of the last century. There is a tremendous potential for using polymers in agriculture and mankind’s fields and garden would look very different if we did not use polymers in them. This…
Fantastic Plastic — Part 1: Polymers in Computing
By Ned Madden TechNewsWorld Part of the ECT News Network 01/27 Brittle, inflexible, toxic, chemical-filled silicon has to be purified in refineries before any money can be made with it — and that is a very difficult and expensive process. As a result, chip manufacturers are always looking for viable alternatives to silicon, which is…
Fantastic Plastic — Part 2: Electric Action
By Ned Madden TechNewsWorld 02/03 Plastic’s role in the realm of electronics need not be limited to insulating conductive metals. New technologies are emerging that give the material a larger role, with the emergence of substances like intelligent semi-responsive polymers, flexible electronics, thin-film transistors and electroactive polymers that can change shape on the application of…
Fantastic Plastic — Part 3: Polymemories
By Ned Madden TechNewsWorld Part of the ECT News Network 02/10 The search is on for inexpensive alternatives to increasingly complex and costly silicon-based memory systems. Organic electronic PMDs are being considered as potential substitutes for conventional semiconductor memories due to their simple device structures, ease of fabrication, compatibility with flexible substrates and comparative low…
Fantastic Plastic — Part 4: Petro Pollution
By Ned Madden TechNewsWorld Part of the ECT News Network 02/17 Although scientists continue to find new high-tech uses for plastics, the material remains difficult to dispose of properly, and it’s finally pushed the polymers/plastics industry into “high-alert” sustainability mode. Going forward, industry companies face accountability and responsibility demands from the public and the government….
Greenhouse Industry Suppliers Project Growth In 2014
Greenhouse Grower February 18, 2014 Greenhouse industry vendors are planning for sales growth in 2014, according to Greenhouse Grower’s State of the Industry survey. As with grower respondents to the survey, 2013 seemed to be a positive year overall for the industry’s suppliers. Nearly 85 percent of vendors said sales for 2013 were up or…
Protecting crops — naturally
By Ned Madden Produce Grower Magazine February 4, 2014 Biologicals provide options for an integrated pest management program for crop growers. You know your greenhouse crop is ceaselessly under attack…but what’s the best response? Diseases and insect infestations have always been major threats in agriculture. Damping off (seedling rot), root rot, stem rot … plant-damaging pathologies like…
Waste to Energy
By Ned Madden Produce Grower Magazine October 15, 2013 Biogas from anaerobic digestion reduces heating, electricity bills for hydroponic vegetable growers. Waste makes wealth…or at least energy, which is a good start. Biogas and the anaerobic digestion (AD) technology that creates it has been commonplace for decades on dairy and hog farms for waste disposal…
The Future of Farming, Part 3: The Business of Urban Ag and CEA
By Ned Madden TechNewsWorld 09/03/13 “Your website is perhaps the single most important marketing tool you have,” wrote Jane Eckert, founder of Eckert AgriMarketing. “A website has replaced your local newspaper classified advertising and yellow page listings to become the — and I mean, THE — informational source of choice for local and distant prospects…
The Future of Farming, Part 2: New Growth Patterns
By Ned Madden TechNewsWorld Part of the ECT News Network 08/20/13 5:00 AM PT “Vertical systems for hydroponic grow rooms are an adaptive application of a very old idea,” said Greengro CEO James Haas. “Vertical stacking units produce higher yields per each square foot of growing space because space is conserved for plant growth in…
The Future of Farming, Part 1: Controlling the Environment
By Ned Madden TechNewsWorld 08/06/13 5:00 AM PT “We’re in the midst of a global movement, and the demand for locally grown, organic produce has never been stronger,” said Greengro Technologies CEO James Haas, “but the biggest problem is that in our society in the U.S., everybody stopped doing basic food-security things — like, for…
Ned Madden 