Climate and Ag in the news
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Since I grew up in Grand Rapids MI downwind of Lake Michigan, I know how much the lake can affect local temperature and weather conditions in the area. AgWeb has a nice write-up of the impacts of the lake on farmers in northern Indiana, which is also affected by the lake, especially in winter and…
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AgWeb posted an article this week from Ben Potter on how standing water in the fields can affect young corn plants. While parts of the Southeast are in drought, many areas of southern Georgia and Alabama have experienced a lot of rain and some fields are quite wet. Corn is especially susceptible to problems if flooding…
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The Packer noted this week that the cherry harvest in the Pacific Northwest will be record-setting for some producers. They attribute this to a warm spring which hastened blooming of cherry trees and helped set a lot of fruit quickly. You can read the article here.
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The USDA has a new detailed posting on Medium.com describing how their work in agriculture and forestry are helping producers to deal with changes in climate and other long-term risks over time. You can read their review article at https://medium.com/usda-results/how-food-and-forestry-are-adapting-to-a-changing-climate-2f5b84bff9c0#.dcpt7pnr9. The USDA has supported this blog since it started through grants that help pay my salary…
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This week, May 2-6, is National Air Quality Week. EPA has a web site which describes some of the events which are going on around the country at https://www3.epa.gov/airnow/airaware/. You can also find information on this topic from NOAA at https://www.airquality.noaa.gov/.
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AgWeb reported today that the State Senate in South Carolina passed a bill giving aid to farmers that were devastated by the October floods at the end of last growing season. According to the post, “Agriculture officials say October’s torrential rains wiped out $330 million worth of crops at harvest time. Farmers lost an additional…
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Clint Thompson of UGA posted a story on this year’s water melon crop which was picked up by Online Athens. According to his story, seedlings were ahead of normal development this spring in spite of rainy weather, and many field were planted early, but some growth was further delayed due to cool, rainy weather later…