PHOTO: GERMAN AEROSPACE CENTRE DLR
This is John Deere’s study project to make the electric tractor feasible for heavy work in the field. The reel in front winds and unwinds the power cord as the tractor moves. The extending arm puts it on the ground at an appropriate distance to keeps it free from the machinery in use.
proof-of-concept. Even though it was a rela- tively small area, analysing 15 years of satellite data at a 30-meter resolution still required a supercomputer to process tens of terabytes of data. The researchers are now working on ex- panding the study area to the entire American Corn Belt, and investigating further applica- tions of the data, including yield and other quality estimates.
First veggies in Antarctic greenhouse
ANTARCTICA A group of German scientists have successfully grown their first vegetables on Antarctica in- cluding lettuce, cucumbers and radishes. The plants were grown without soil, daylight or pesticides as part of a project designed to help astronauts cultivate fresh food on other plan- ets. Researchers at Germany’s Neumayer Sta- tion III say they’ve picked 3.6 kilogrammes (8 pounds) of salad greens, 18 cucumbers and
70 radishes grown inside a high-tech green- house as temperatures outside dropped below -20°Celsius (-4 Fahrenheit). They are working with the EDEN-ISS project in association with the German Aerospace Centre DLR, which coordinates the project. They hope to harvest 4-5 kilogrammes of fruit and vegetables a week by May this year. While NASA has suc- cessfully grown greens on the International Space Station, DLR’s Daniel Schubert says the Antarctic project aims to produce a wider range of vegetables that might one day be grown on Mars or the Moon.
True potato seed for warmer climates
EUROPE Most potatoes grown in the West are clones es- tablished from certified seed potatoes. Starting with healthy, disease-free seed potatoes is es- sential to avoid seed-borne disease that can dev- astate crops. For farmers in warmer climes this is often too expensive, and they face using poor- quality seed potatoes, often carrying disease. Using tiny potato seeds instead reduces disease risks and makes transport and storage easier and cheaper. However, potatoes grown from true seed are not uniform enough to meet strict Eu- ropean or US specifications. But they are uniform enough for African, south-east Asian and central American markets. Dutch breeder Bejo Zaden is looking to sell into this market, after becoming the first company to gain plant breeder’s rights in the Netherlands for the variety Oliver F1. It can be grown directly from seed to produce potatoes for the table in just one season.
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