Eco blog

Monday, March 23, 2009

Organic Farming Welcomes Electrons to Take Over Fungicides

With the population on Earth increasing rapidly, there’s always a supply-demand mismatch with respect to all resources, especially food. Companies like Monsanto have made attempts to balance these deficiencies with herbicides and bovine growth hormones. Well versed with the damaging effects of these steroids and chemicals, people are now turning to organic foods which are grown without their use.

Keeping in view the interests of consumers, Fraunhofer Institute for Electron Beam and Plasma Technology FEP has come forward with a substitute for fungicides. According to the newly introduced technique, the fungal spores in the husk and on the surface of the seeds are exposed to accelerated electrons, which will annihilate the chemical bonds in the molecules of the spores without producing any heat. This organic sterilization technique will be exhibited along with the other similar methods at the latest Parts2Clean fair to be held in Stuttgart from 28th October.

The plant set up by FEP is working with the seed growers Schmidt-Seeger-GmbH to treat approximately 5,000 metric tons of seeds per year at a rate of 30 metric tons per hour. This innovative revelation is all set to help the food industry with its increasing demands for organic foods and give the people safer nutrition.

Labels: electrons, organic, organic foods, PEF, pesticides

posted by Hadson @ 8:18 PM