Crops
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The Packer reported today that the Florida grapefruit season is expected to end earlier than usual this year due to problems caused by El Nino conditions in the state. USDA reported that the crop was the lowest in three decades, according to the report. Fall and early winter brought warmer than normal temperatures and the…
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As part of the celebration of the International Year of Soil, the New York Times published an article this week on the value of planting cover crops between regular harvests. Among the benefits: increase in soil carbon, decrease in erosion, reduction in compaction, lower fertilizer costs, and improvement in crop yields. And as I’ve pointed…
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Growing Georgia had an article this week describing the expansion of olive plantations into Florida in recent years. I’ve written previous about the development of olive groves in Georgia in this blog. Now Florida farmers, frustrated with the devastation caused by citrus greening, are looking to this new crop to help their bottom line. You…
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The Packer reported this week that heavy rains and high winds damaged pepper and corn crops and delayed planting, which could lead to production shortages in the coming weeks. Many of the pepper plants were just about to flower when the severe weather knocked blossoms off the plants, destroying the value of the crop. Final…
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NASA’s Earth Observatory blog posted an interesting story yesterday about the impacts of South Africa’s current severe drought on maize farmers. Drought is often seen in this region when a strong El Niño occurs, so it was not unexpected, but is more severe than usual. Due to the dry conditions, farmers have not been able…
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The Packer had a story last week on the impacts of the East Coast snowstorm on mushroom growers in Pennsylvania. The heavy snow collapsed roofs of growing facilities, closed roads to trucks and prevented workers from getting to the farms. This is likely to result in a temporary shortage of fresh mushrooms in the East.…
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Medium.com had a long but interesting article on the Cerrado in Brazil and how it is being converted to cropland to export soy to China. When I think of Brazil I think of tropical rainforests, but it actually has another celebrated biome, the Cerrado, a grassland located in central Brazil. With the current demand for…