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Better Farming Ontario Featured Articles

Better Farming Ontario magazine is published 11 times per year. After each edition is published, we share featured articles online.


Farming electricity from plants

Sunday, June 7, 2015

A Dutch start-up company, Plant-e, is harnessing electricity from living plants to power cell phone chargers, Wi-Fi hot spots and even LED street lights in two sites in the Netherlands. The goal is to provide electricity to the quarter of the world's population that doesn't have it.

Plant-e uses a byproduct of photosynthesis, collecting electricity from plants growing in two-foot square plastic containers. As explained on the website inhabitat.com, growing plants produces more sugar through photosynthesis than the plants can use. The excess is cast out through their roots into the surrounding soil where it breaks down in protons and electrons. Plant-e electrodes in the soil collect that electricity.

Company founders want to use plants growing near rice paddies and wetlands. The company is a spinoff from the sub-department of Environmental Technology of Wageningen University. BF

Current Issue

October 2025

Better Farming Magazine

Farms.com Breaking News

New Holland IntelliSense Tech Elevates Crop Efficiency

Wednesday, October 8, 2025

The IntelliSense system features a forward-looking sensor mounted at the cab’s center line, allowing the sprayer to assess crop quality up to 50 feet ahead. It operates in two main modes: variable rate application and spot spraying. In variable rate mode, the system uses sunlight... Read this article online

Effective Strategies for Corn Soybean and Wheat

Thursday, October 2, 2025

As reported on the OMAFRA website fieldcropnews.com, effective crop residue management in corn, soybean, and wheat fields is key to profitability and long-term soil health. It begins at harvest, with combines and headers set correctly to size and spread residue evenly across the... Read this article online

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