“An Okanagan-based company is thrilled that their latest trademarked non-browning apple has been green-lit for sale on Canadian shelves, after a history of public nerves surrounding genetically modified crops.
Okanagan Specialty Fruits is the developer and grower behind ‘Arctic apple’ varieties, sold pre-sliced or diced with the promise of staying fresh and avoiding browning for up to 28 days thanks to bioengineering tweaks to the apples’ genetic codes.”
From Castanet.
“Nothing appears remarkable about a dish of fresh ravioli made with solein. It looks and tastes the same as normal pasta.
But the origins of the proteins which give it its full-bodied flavour are extraordinary: they come from Europe’s first factory dedicated to making human food from electricity and air.
The factory’s owner, Solar Foods, has started production at a site in Vantaa, near the Finnish capital of Helsinki, that will be able to produce 160 tonnes of food a year. It follows several years of experimenting at lab scale.”
From The Guardian.
“A record soybean harvest in Brazil’s southernmost state should offset losses in the drought-hit center west, keeping a lid on prices in the world’s largest producer and exporter and slowing the pace of sales, according to local farmers and cooperatives.
Rio Grande do Sul will produce 68% more soybeans this season than last, according to estimates from national crop agency Conab, which said Thursday the state would regain the post of Brazil’s No.2 producer after Mato Grosso. Another state crop agency Emater projects a record crop of 22.25 million metric tons, up 71.5% from a year ago.”
From Reuters.
“The annual production of strawberry has increased by one million tonnes in the US and 8.4 million tonnes worldwide since 1960. Here we show that the US expansion was driven by genetic gains from Green Revolution breeding and production advances that increased yields by 2,755%.”
From Nature.
“Global Fishing Watch was co-founded by Google, marine conservation body Oceana, and environmental group SkyTruth. The latter studies satellite images to spot environmental damage.
To try to better monitor and quantify the problem of overfishing, Global Fishing Watch is now using increasingly sophisticated AI software, and satellite imagery, to globally map the movements of more than 65,000 commercial fishing vessels, both those with – and without – AIS.
The AI analyses millions of gigabytes of satellite imagery to detect vessels and offshore infrastructure. It then looks at publicly accessible data from ships’ AIS signals, and combines this with radar and optical imagery to identify vessels that fail to broadcast their positions.”
From BBC.
