Climate and Ag in the news
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AgWeb posted an interesting story this week about the increase in the use of drought-tolerant hybrids of corn in recent years. The first seeds with drought tolerance were made available in 2011 and the percent of corn acreage planted with the new hybrids has grown to over 20% since then. I expect to see this…
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The South Carolina State Climate Office released a new online map-journal today describing the impacts of Hurricane Florence on South Carolina after the storm made landfall in North Carolina. Very cool! You can check it out at https://scdnr.maps.arcgis.com/apps/MapJournal/index.html?appid=c2d63441bc974cadb52f0bed7528aae1.
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You all remember the scenes of devastated forests after recent storms like Hurricane Michael, which caused billions of dollars of damage to forests in the Southeast this fall. Other big hurricanes in past years have also caused significant damage to forests. But how do the forests repair themselves after a big storm? The Scientist has…
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USA Today posted an interesting article this week about what hardships farmers have to go through in the Arctic outbreak parts of the US have experienced in the last week. Unlike other workers, farmers have to keep going outside to keep their animals safe, and have to deal with balky equipment that just does not…
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Now that the government shut down is over (at least for the moment), government agencies like NOAA are catching up on their regular work. This Wednesday they will be releasing the latest global climate summary for 2018, a few weeks later than usual. Early indications from info that I have seen online from the Japan…
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The latest newsletter from the IFAS Extension office in northwest Florida provided an update on the state of forage supplies and quality for livestock producers in that area. Producers who were fortunate to have baleage bagged before Hurricane Michael found many of their rolls to be damaged in the storm, leading to problems with quality.…
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As you probably know, this past week has been frigid for the upper Midwest as a piece of the Arctic air associated with the polar vortex has moved through the area. I think everyone there is glad that temperatures are already starting to warm up and they are likely to be above normal within a…