Crop science booms in 'The Triangle' and strives to address population growth
A recent growth spurt promises intense new research with the potential to transform how — and how well — the world is fed, says an article in Chemical & Engineering News (C&EN), the weekly news magazine of the American Chemical Society.
Melody M. Bomgardner, a senior editor at C&EN, notes that the park, which is nestled between the higher education triad Raleigh, Durham and Chapel Hill, has grown, thanks in part to a symbiotic relationship with the universities in those cities.
Biotech firms in “The Triangle” have long relied on nearby graduates to fill their research ranks. Resident agricultural company Syngenta has benefited since 1984. Now the area has attracted companies with its friendliness to genetic engineering.
In 2012, international giant Bayer CropScience relocated its seed business headquarters from France to the North Carolina hub. BASF made a similar move with its plant sciences base after meeting resistance in Europe to genetically modified crops.
The article says that since 2011 the area's firms have added 500,000 square feet of new research facilities and greenhouses to study important topics, such as pesticides against rootworm, threats to honeybees and drought tolerance.
Although the countless projects are incredibly varied, the scientists' overall mission is unified. Altogether they add up to no small task — helping the world double its agricultural output by 2050 when the population is expected to reach 9 billion.
The American Chemical Society is a nonprofit organization chartered by the U.S. Congress. With more than 161,000 members, ACS is the world's largest scientific society and a global leader in providing access to chemistry-related research through its multiple databases, peer-reviewed journals and scientific conferences. Its main offices are in Washington, D.C., and Columbus, Ohio.
To automatically receive news releases from the American Chemical Society, contact newsroom@acs.org.
Media Contact
All latest news from the category: Life Sciences and Chemistry
Articles and reports from the Life Sciences and chemistry area deal with applied and basic research into modern biology, chemistry and human medicine.
Valuable information can be found on a range of life sciences fields including bacteriology, biochemistry, bionics, bioinformatics, biophysics, biotechnology, genetics, geobotany, human biology, marine biology, microbiology, molecular biology, cellular biology, zoology, bioinorganic chemistry, microchemistry and environmental chemistry.
Newest articles
Trotting robots reveal emergence of animal gait transitions
A four-legged robot trained with machine learning by EPFL researchers has learned to avoid falls by spontaneously switching between walking, trotting, and pronking – a milestone for roboticists as well…
Innovation promises to prevent power pole-top fires
Engineers in Australia have found a new way to make power-pole insulators resistant to fire and electrical sparking, promising to prevent dangerous pole-top fires and reduce blackouts. Pole-top fires pose…
Possible alternative to antibiotics produced by bacteria
Antibacterial substance from staphylococci discovered with new mechanism of action against natural competitors. Many bacteria produce substances to gain an advantage over competitors in their highly competitive natural environment. Researchers…
