Crops
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This outlook will be posted in the Peanut Pointers newsletter but I thought other producers might also find it useful: Drought is almost entirely gone from the Southeastern US, with only a tiny sliver remaining in northeast Georgia. I expect that to be eliminated in the Drought Monitor map released on July 6, along with…
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Sometimes it takes me a while to find an interesting story. This 2015 story on dry beans from Modern Farmer discusses a cross between common beans like white or kidney and the tepary bean. The tepary bean is much less sensitive to hot temperatures than the common beans, and the crosses looks like they will…
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A new study released this week indicates that the American South will feel the worst economic effects of a warming climate. Articles in The Atlantic here and in the New York Times here describe the results of the study published today in Science which use a new economic method of calculating economic costs by calculating…
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One of the consequences of the rainy conditions in the central US this year has been exceptional runoff of fertilizer and other agricultural chemicals as well as animal waste, most of which make their way down the Mississippi River into the Gulf of Mexico. These chemicals help lead to the development of a “dead zone”…
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I’ve seen several articles this week discussing problems that farmers are having in areas that have received abundant rain in the last few weeks. While the precipitation is welcome for many, it does make it hard for producers to keep up with applications of nutrients and other agricultural chemical treatments. The Panhandle Ag e-News discussed…
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In contrast to last year, when a late-season drought and subsequent dry conditions early this year caused problems with lack of moisture, this spring and summer so far Alabama farms have been inundated with rain, leaching nutrients from the soil and forcing farmers to replant or make other management changes to their farm plans. The…
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AgWeb posted a story this week about a new potential source of income for farmers–selling carbon credits for offsets of carbon emissions. The first rice-farming carbon credits were sold to Microsoft by a rice farmer in Arkansas. This might be a way in the future for agricultural producers to bring a new income stream into…