Climate and Ag in the news

  • The latest 3-month outlook for the last three months of the year has been released by NOAA’s Climate Prediction Center.  It shows an increased chance of above normal temperatures and higher than normal rainfall, particularly in the southern part of the region.  The patterns they show are consistent with a developing El Nino, which as…

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  • Agriculture is one of the industries with the highest concentrations of outdoor workers in the US.  The Centers for Disease Control published an article today on the risks that outdoor workers may face in a warmer climate.  You can read the article here.  Among the risks are increased growth of poison ivy and other poisonous…

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  • Last week I mentioned that some Georgia farmers were looking to grow pomegranates as a new crop in the Southeast.  Georgia Farm Monitor released a video on this subject a few days later, explaining how growing pomegranates mesh nicely with blueberries because they ripen at different times of year.  You can watch the video by…

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  • The latest release from the National Agriculture Statistics Service shows that 79 percent of subsurface soils are short on moisture, according to Growing Georgia.   This continuing lack of rainfall has caused crops like soybeans, cotton and peanuts to fade and pastures to stop producing grass.  Even crops that were going to be baled for filler…

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  • The Boston Globe had a long but interesting article today about how changes in climate in Maine are causing a variety of problems for foresters, lobster fishermen, and farmers.  Increases in temperature over the past few decades have lengthened the growing season, which could allow for a greater variety of crops, but also increases the…

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  • This was the headline of a story (click here) posted earlier this week by Climate Central, indicating that El Nino-like conditions have returned to the Eastern Pacific Ocean.  This echoes comments made by Dr. Klaus Wolter earlier this week at the ACF basin webinar on Tuesday.  However, an El Nino is not officially declared until…

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  • Modern Farmer had an interesting story this week about agricultural statistics–the counts of acreage, farm size, crops planted, and other measures of agricultural production.  In the story, the author points out that from one census to the next changes in how the counts are made can make it look like tremendous changes have occurred in…

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