Cyber Porch--high octane research, gene editing, freaky fast

**Three notable ag stories worth kickin' around on the cyber porch...

High Octane Research

A new USDA study says corn ethanol has substantially less GHG emissions than in 2005.

Some have been unhappy about the wall-to-wall corn production that supplies the core content for the ethanol boom, but many believe biofuels are economically and environmentally sound. The oil industry and some environmental groups will criticize this report, but it is high octane information for ethanol proponents.

What's In Your Genes?

This article points out some of the different methods being developed to alter plants (and animals?)--soybeans with more healthy fatty acids, potatoes that stay fresh longer, and cows without horns? The trend seems to be more toward gene editing rather than genetic modifying.The brave new world of ag is using a "snip snip here and a snip snip there" to incorporate some amazing--and at times controversial--changes.

Freaky Fast for for 200,000

Many are not convinced drones will be able to deliver pastrami sandwiches or boxes of thin-crust pizza in big cities like New York, but the food service in Mumbai, India, has a ground-based system that gets 200,000 meals a day to hungry customers--mainly by foot or bike. Maybe it's not that freaky fast, but it's freakin' amazing. 

by dan gogerty (top pic from futurity.org; bottom one from gettyimages)