Vertical farming – one of the 50 best inventions of 2009, according to Time magazine.
J. Frank Schmidt involved in Climate Friendly Nurseries Project
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J. Frank Schmidt & Sons Co. Inc. and the Climate Friendly Nurseries Project were featured last week in the Sustainable Life section of the Portland (Ore.) Tribune. Check it out.
Robots in horticulture project has video, Web site
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Last week we told you about research into the use of robots in horticulture. Here’s a little more information about it. The consortium looking into this is called Comprehensive Automation for Specialty Crops (CASC), and has a Web site at www.cascrop.com. Here’s a video on the subject from Washington State University:
Researchers look at robots in horticulture
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A consortium of researchers from universities, private industry and the federal government is taking a new look at how robots could be used in specialty crop production. Several heavy hitters are on board, including Carnegie-Mellon University, so this is an effort to take seriously. One such technology already being used in fruit orchards is called […]
Join the fight against invasives
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The Oregon Invasive Species Council is accepting nominations for four positions on the council that are coming open at the end of the year. The appointing authorities are looking for individuals with expertise in various areas, one of which is nursery production. The Oregon Department of Agriculture has one of the six permanent seats, but […]
Time for OktoberPest!
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If you show up in lederhosen clutching a beer stein, it means you probably didn’t read the announcement very carefully. OktoberPest is a yearly series of pest management workshops held every October at the North Willamette Research and Extension Center in Aurora, Ore, and the agenda (PDF) for 2009 is now available. The dates are […]
Practically green
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SPROut, the Sustainable Plant Research and Outreach Center, is offering a couple of upcoming all-day workshops of note. The details: Ecological Design Principles for Water Treatment – Saturday, Sept. 26Ecological design principles have been the basis for many commercially-available, plant-based engineered systems for water treatment such as Living Machines, Eco-Machines, and Lake Restorers. Applications of these […]
It’s official – Climate Friendly Nurseries Project launched
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The Oregon Association of Nurseries and the Oregon Environmental Council have created a partnership known as the Climate Friendly Nurseries Project, the two organizations announced Thursday morning at the 2009 Farwest Show in Portland, Ore. Over the next three years, the partners will work together to help nurseries to reduce energy use and emissions of […]
Better bugs
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More and more growers see “good bugs” – the pest-killing predatory insects also known as biological control agents or natural enemies – as a good idea. Now, scientists are looking at ways to breed “good bugs” that live in the soil for a longer time, thereby providing greater and longer efficacy against nursery pests.