Turning Sand Into Farmland

​Desert Control, a Norwegian start-up company, has developed a product that it claims can turn desert sand into arable soil in just 7 hours. The company’s innovation is Liquid Nanoclay, a mixture of water and clay which is sprayed on sand or sandy soils and attaches to sand particles as it percolates into the soil. The product can be applied through common irrigation methods or simply by a sprinkler. Desert Control has been focusing in the arid Middle East where Liquid Nanoclay has been deployed in test plots to grow watermelon, zucchini, and pearl millet. Currently cost remains a barrier to adoption at around $2 to $5 per square meter, but the company is working on scaling up production units that are capable of delivering large amounts of Liquid Nanoclay which will bring down costs.

Ag Groups Push Back on Proposed Climate Data Rule

A proposed rule by the Securities and Exchange Commission to require publicly-traded companies to report greenhouse gas emissions has generated strong push back from farm groups and some of Ag’s biggest companies according to a report in the Wall Street Journal. The groups’ criticisms stem from the proposal to require estimated emissions from suppliers and customers, which for ag companies, would include the farms and ranches in the supply chain. Corteva, one of the companies that would be impacted by the proposed rule, told regulators it would effectively drive small and midsize farmers out of business if the company were required to impose emissions tracking requirements. The full article can be read here.