USA

USA: Report Explains Why Plant Clones Aren’t Identical

A team from Oxford University and King Abdullah University of Science and Technology has shown why cloned plants are not actually identical: the genomes of regenerant plants carry relatively high frequencies of new DNA sequence mutations that were not present in the genome of the donor plant.

“Where these new mutations actually come from is still a mystery,” said one of the authors of the study. “They may arise during the regeneration process itself or during the cell divisions in the donor plant that gave rise to the root cells from which the regenerant plants are created.”

(Source: www.sciencedaily.com)

Canada

Canada: Toronto Architect Proposes 58-Floor ‘Sky Farm’ for Theatre District

A Toronto architect has proposed a skyscraper hydroponics operation for the city’s theatre district. Gordon Graff’s 58-story ‘Sky Farm’ would include 2.7 million square feet of floor area and 8 million square feet of growing area and is claimed to be capable of producing as much as a thousand acre farm and feeding 35 thousand people per year.

UK

UK: Power Firm Plans Eco Park

Lateral Power Limited, a UK firm bidding for an electricity-generating project on the Isle of Anglesey, has revealed plans for an innovative new Welsh Eco Park that will combine an already-approved 299 megawatt biomass power station with high-tech aquaponic centres to produce fresh fish and vegetables.

The developers claim that heat produced from electricity generation will provide warm water to feed a specialist fish farm. The water from the fish farm, combined with heat and carbon dioxide from the power plant, will then feed hydroponics greenhouses.

The project is also projected to create 400 new jobs on the island.

(Sources: www.newswales.co.uk)

AUSTRALIA

Australia: Organic Label Outdated?
A recent article in Practical Hydroponics & Greenhouses magazine has called into question the value of the soil grown-only ‘organic’ label, noting that soil growing is far less efficient than hydroponics and far more likely to lead to pollution of groundwater through the runoff of plant nutrients.

Dr. Mike Nichols, a retired university teacher from Massey University, believes that the whole concept of an ‘organic’ rating for food crops is outdated and of little practical value, stating that “much of the ‘organic philosophy’ appears to be based on the UK Soil Association and the writings of Rudolph Steiner. Both organisations [had] their origins well before anyone considered growing crops commercially using hydroponic systems, and so hydroponics did not get considered.”

(Source: hydroponics.com.au)