Climate and Ag in the news
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If you live in the country, or even in some city areas, you may use a septic system instead of a municipal sanitation system. According to a recent article published on Resilience.org, rising sea levels near the coast have the potential to make millions of these systems near the coast nonfunctional, leading to the escape of…
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Merck Animal Health has announced that a new app that calculates the footprint of beef production. This app is designed for producers, suppliers and others in the food chain to estimate the economic impacts of their production on the environment. It includes personalization by number of cattle and production method and provides suggestions for improvement…
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The Los Angeles Times had an interesting article this week about how years of protracted drought have impacted farmers in Iran, leaving them worried that their way of life is not sustainable. In Iran, “environmental mismanagement, water overuse, the pressures of population growth and a government more concerned with security and economic challenges have exacerbated…
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Warmer temperatures in coffee-growing regions are expected to reduce the area that is suitable for growing coffee, according to an article published at Inc.com here. In addition to the decrease in cultivated area, pests and diseases are also expected to increase in a warmer climate. Grass food crops like wheat, sorghum, rice and corn are…
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The Georgia Farm Bureau has a nice video on the current status of the peanut harvest in Georgia. You can see it here at a link from Growing Georgia. As you’ll hear, the peanut yields this year have been OK but not great due to the hot and dry conditions that hit parts of the peanut-growing…
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According to a story posted this week in The Packer, “Drought, rain and hail in different parts of the country may take their toll on pumpkin supplies as Halloween nears.” The Northeast is the most likely to see shortages with a drought that has blanketed the region for most of the summer, reducing yields by…
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You may not know it, but Mars Chocolate, the maker of candy brands like M&M, Snickers, and Dove, employs a small team of meteorologists who are dedicated to analyzing the impacts of the weather on the chocolate business. Many other commodity-based companies as well as financial firms do the same thing to keep abreast of weather and…