All posts tagged: Soy

Plastic-free soy sauce container biodegrades in 4 weeks

Plastic-free soy sauce container biodegrades in 4 weeks

Get the Popular Science daily newsletter💡 Breakthroughs, discoveries, and DIY tips sent every weekday. Chances are sushi aficionados have left a restaurant take-out in tow and with a handful of adorable, but environmentally problematic, fish-shaped soy sauce packets. These single-use plastic “shoyu-tai” drip bottles are as iconic as they are convenient, but their small size and disposability mean they often end up sliding down sinks and into drains. Eventually, these plastic faux fish make their way to landfills or, worse, the ocean. Once in the big blue, they slowly break down into microplastics that are then eaten by real fish. Ironically, those microplastic-filled fish may one day end up nestled between rice at a sushi bar. One Australian state has already passed legislation banning the plastic fish-shaped soy sauce packets, and others are reportedly considering following suit. But designers at Heliograf and Australian design studio Vert Design may have found a way to keep the fish packet alive—albeit in a more sustainable form. Their newly designed fish is called Holy Carp! and is made entirely …

USDA Details  Billion Farm Aid Package Favoring Rice, Cotton; Soy Farmers Warn of Strain

USDA Details $12 Billion Farm Aid Package Favoring Rice, Cotton; Soy Farmers Warn of Strain

By P.J. Huffstutter and Julie Ingwersen CHICAGO, Dec 31 (Reuters) – The U.S. Department ‌of ​Agriculture released details on Wednesday about how ‌much row crop farmers will receive next year from a $12 billion aid program, but ​soybean growers say such payments fall short of helping those hurt by low crop prices and trade disputes. The Farmer Bridge Assistance program is ‍expected to distribute $11 billion in one-time payments ​to farmers, who will be paid on a per-acre rate if they planted one of the 19 commodity crops identified as ​being eligible for ⁠the program, USDA said in a statement on Wednesday. U.S. farmers produced massive corn and soybean harvests this fall amid a global glut of grain, and lost billions of dollars amid falling crop prices. Soybean farmers were particularly hard hit by the loss of soybean sales to China, by far the world’s top buyer, when it turned to South American suppliers during ‌stalled trade talks. While the aid is expected to help farmers prepare for the next planting season, growers and agricultural ​economists …