Climate and Ag in the news
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Cold weather and frosts are causing problems for farmers in the upper Midwest this month. Farmers planted crops late due to cold and wet spring conditions and are concerned that frost and cold, damp weather could cause reductions in yield due to immaturity. AgWeb posted a story about these problems, which is available here. The…
Posted in: Climate and Ag in the news -
One story in the Southeast that has gotten little attention this week is the severe impact of recent drought conditions on the already stressed oyster industry in Apalachicola Bay on the Florida coast. The combination of high salinity water due to drought, as well as pressures from water usage and industrial pollution as well as…
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The Chicago Tribune published a recent article on the increasing move of American to coastal areas. The number of people moving to the Florida coastline alone has increased 1.1 million since 1990, not including part-year residents. A third of that coastal development has been on the shoreline itself, in spite of increasingly restrictive building codes…
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A Time magazine article today highlights one of the local impacts of changing weather patterns on disease vectors. Because of all the rain that has fallen in the Southwest due to inputs of hurricane moisture from the Eastern Pacific Ocean and the associated flooding, mosquito populations in Phoenix and surrounding areas has doubled. Standing water…
Posted in: Climate and Ag in the news -
The Washington Post issued a story yesterday discussing the nearly nine year drought in hurricanes hitting Florida and why it might portend danger for Florida residents. They pointed out that more than a million people have moved to Florida since the last hurricane hit in 2005 and that many of these people have no experience…
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Yesterday’s USDA blog “Farmers go digital to confront changing growing conditions” highlights agricultural tools developed for the Midwest by the U2U group (“Useful to Usable”) at Purdue University and affiliated universities which show variations in climate patterns by El Nino phase and how they affect yields and other agricultural variables. You can see one of…
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The Southeast Regional Climate Center posted a story on Facebook today about NOAA and the Coast Guard joining together to preserve a WW1 shipwreck off the coast of North Carolina. The lightship Diamond Shoal Lightship No. 71 was attacked by a German ship after it reported by radio the presence of a German U-boat off…