Scientists look to wheatgrass to save dryland farming and capture carbon
WYOMING – Intermediate wheatgrass is an imported grain that has been grown in the U.S. Great Plains and Intermountain West since the 1930s; but could it be used in marginal…
A Conversation on the Rural Midwest and the Sustainable Development Goals
People across the U.S. are using the Sustainable Development Goals as a road map to build back better by turning these global ambitions into local action. In the Midwest, that…
Can Bioengineered Plants Solve Our Carbon Problem?
Carbon capture, utilization, and storage (CCUS) technology is being hailed as an indispensable part of the energy transition. Net-zero emissions “will be virtually impossible without CCUS,” says the International Energy Agency (IEA), while…
Can the Climate-Friendly Grain Kernza Finally Hit the Big Time?
At Bang Brewing in St. Paul, Minnesota, co-owner Sandy Boss Febbo keeps an 18-foot-long poster on the wall with photos of two grasses and their excavated roots. The first is a wheat…
Trees, big fans, and deep-rooted plants: How to suck 2 gigatons of carbon from the atmosphere
To have a chance of avoiding the worst impacts of climate change, society needs to reach net-zero emissions by 2050—meaning that if we can’t transition to an emissions-free economy by…