Genetically Modified News
At reap/sow, we’re all about pushing the boundaries. In this section, we bring you news of advancements weird enough to have been cooked in the lab. In fact, one of them was! Can you distinguish imposter from innovation? One is fake…two are real examples of imagination on the move.
Farmer on Farmer
Jerry Miller saw a problem and set out to fix it. That problem: farmers’ love lives. With schedules that few people outside the farm community understood, or could accommodate, farmers he talked to were finding it hard to find a mate. So Jerry decided that farmers should get with times, and get online. With the slogan “You don’t have to be lonely, Now there’s farmers-only,” farmers have joined the online dating generation.
The Worm with the Golden Poop
What could be more inspiring than the hundreds of tons of food waste generated each year by university dining halls? Tom Szaky and his Princeton roommate Jon Beyer decided to turn that trash into gold, with everyone’s favorite digesters, worms! They came up with a plant food made entirely from the worm castings. Even better, they packaged it in recycled bottles, and shipped it in recycled containers. Now you can find their “product made entirely out of trash” in a Home Depot near you.
Fegetabales
Recent advances in vegetarian technology, such as veggie burgers and tofurkey, have driven meat eaters and carnivores to develop their own unique innovations. A group of scientists sponsored by the Cattlemans’ Beef Association went to the lab to develop fake vegetables as a means to encouraging more meat consumption. Rather than use up one’s limited stomach capacity on vegetables, fruits, and other lifeless goods, supporters of “meatables” argue that humans can obtain all our essential nutrients without vegetables. With “beef carrots” and “asparaduck” as their first products, these pioneering food scientists hope to bring meat to as many consumers as possible.