Climate and Ag in the news
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I recently read news stories about two new uses for wood that may help with different aspects of energy production. If they can be commercialized, they could be great new options for wood producers. The USDA noted earlier this week in a press release that Alaska Airlines today landed the first commercial flight powered in…
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I’ve been seeing some interesting and alarming stories this week about extremes in climate. The Washington Post published a story about a giant reservoir in Southern California that is nearly dry due to the continuing drought there. Remember that So Cal got mainly missed by the El Niño rains that fell last winter. The water…
Posted in: Climate and Ag in the news -
Is the sun causing the warming we have seen in recent decades? This is a comment I occasionally get from people who are not paying careful attention to how climate works. While solar radiation can affect climate on a variety of time scales (ice ages from distance-related orbital changes in our trip around the sun,…
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There is a great new resource available for free describing the relationships between climate and crops. It is an iBook recently produced by the Alabama Cooperative Extension System at Auburn University. Here are some comments about it from their press release: Dr. John Beasley, head of Auburn University’s Department of Crop, Soil and Environmental Sciences,…
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Have you enjoyed the view of the full moon that has occurred over the last two nights? Even with all of the smoke in the Southeast, the drought has kept skies reasonably clear and most folks have gotten a glimpse of how big it is, because it is on the nearest point of its orbit…
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AgWeb released a video story today about the impacts of flooding rain in Louisiana and North Carolina on this year’s sweet potato crops. In some areas of Louisiana, for example, some farmers lost 50 to 70 percent of their crop. In the north, losses ranged from 15 percent to 35 percent. You can read more and…
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Several of my Facebook friends posted this MODIS satellite image of the smoke in northern Georgia today. Spectacular and troubling! All of the smoke from several fires is blending to create significant haze across the area. The smoke has caused problems with visibility on highways and respiratory issues for people with asthma and other lung…