Leila Dehabadi puts corn at the centre of new, more efficient technology for separating water from ethanol.

Water out of wine

New University of Saskatchewan chemistry research could 
pave the way for cheaper gas and booze

A University of Saskatch­ewan PhD chemistry student has devised a new and more energy-efficient way to separate water from ethanol. Leila Dehabadi is using starch-based materials such as corn, and can extract the water without using additional energy to isolate the ethanol, which could reduce the cost of biofuels. “Compared to distillation, this new approach

Harvest goes hands free

Harvest goes hands free

British researchers have put automation to test in the farm field

A U.K. research project has planted, tended and harvested the first crop — of spring barley — that’s never seen direct human labour. Hands Free Hectare was aiming to test the concept in the field and consciously chose smaller machinery, said Jonathan Gill, a researcher at Harper University. “There’s been a focus in recent years


The wheat-like cereal emmer was one of the earliest crops to show evidence of human influence.

Early intervention

Humans appear to have influenced crop plants far earlier 
than previously understood

It turns out the roots for farming run deeper than previously thought — about 10,000 years deeper to be precise. New research from the U.K.’s University of Warwick has shown ancient hunter-gatherers began to systemically affect the evolution of crops as far back as 30,000 years ago. Professor Robin Allaby has discovered that human crop

A thatch layer builds from the declining clover as the season progresses. 
The thatch decomposes and nitrogen becomes available for corn nutrition.

Night of the living mulch

It’s more fairy tale than horror story, according to researchers 
studying the technique

Living mulch may be a way to benefit both soil and the bottom line. The technique uses a peren­nial crop sown between the rows of an annual crop and University of Georgia researchers are studying how to make this old technique work even better. They’re studying the use of white clover between the rows of


New research may eventually see plants created that can shake off insect damage on their own.

Some plants rise to challenge of cutting

Research findings could increase productivity and lower pesticide use eventually

How would you like a canola plant that just got tougher as flea beetles tried to eat it? Eventually that may become reality if new research from the University of Illinois pans out over time. Researchers there have been studying a group of plants known as “overcompensators,” which react to being clipped by increasing their

New research may be paving the way to more efficiently converting biomass like cornstalks into biofuels.

Cutting the cost of ethanol

Researchers devise a way to reduce the amount of enzymes needed to convert biomass into biofuels

Biofuels like ethanol could get cheaper if new research from Rutgers and Michigan State universities holds up. Scientists there have demonstrated how to design and genetically engineer enzyme surfaces so they bind less to cornstalks and other cellulosic biomass, reducing enzyme costs in biofuels production, according to a study published in the journal ACS Sustainable


Kochia seedlings, part of a U.S. study of the weed, emerge in a field at 
Garden City, Kansas.

Keeping kochia in check

New research indicates the importance of early-season control of herbicide-resistant kochia

Herbicide-resistant kochia is a big problem in the U.S. Great Plains states, and has appeared in limited numbers in Manitoba over the past few years. Now researchers, writing in the latest edition of the journal Weed Science, are beginning to reveal more about how the weed works. Kochia typically begins to emerge in the U.S.

Quebec researchers say a new treatment can remove atrazine from 
surface water.

Cleaning up chemicals

Atrazine is the most common weed killer found in Quebec surface water, which prompted the research

A group of Quebec researchers, at that province’s Institut National De La Recherche Scientifique, say they’ve identified an effective way to remove the pesticide atrazine from surface water. Atrazine, widely used as a weed killer, is known to have harmful effects on aquatic wildlife and presents a risk to human health by altering the action


Processed meat products are particularly hard to test for adulteration.

Rapid detection of meat fraud

Spanish researchers say a new biosensor can give test results within an hour


In recent years meat fraud has been a growing problem. Unscrupulous sellers have been caught adulturating beef with cheaper horsemeat and swapping chicken for turkey in sausages labelled 100 per cent turkey. Now researchers from the Complutense University of Madrid say they’ve developed an electrochemical biosensor that can quickly detect a DNA fragment unique to

Farmers don’t just need soybean seed. They also need the whole production package to make it successful.

Soy strains

Adding commercial soybeans in developing countries 
brings unique challenges

Introducing soybeans into a developing country’s agriculture community is more complex than just putting the seeds in the ground. It also requires a major shift in thinking in relation to crop production and management, according to a University of Illinois agriculture economist. Peter Goldsmith says only with this shift in thinking will the new crop