Crops
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While we watch to see how much rain we get out of the developing system near the Gulf, here is some advice that you might find useful on how to manage pasture in dry conditions: https://www.kingsagriseeds.com/handle-hay-fields-pastures-severe-drought/.
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Have you ever driven past a field of sunflowers and seen them all facing the same direction? They seem to follow the sun. But how do they do it? I saw a fascinating story this week about scientists who finally figured out the mechanism for growth that allows the sunflowers to move with the sun…
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The US Department of Agriculture has an interesting website with ten case studies documenting their plan to help farmers and foresters plan for climate change. Here is some of the information from the web site. You can read more at: https://www.usda.gov/wps/portal/usda/usdahome?contentidonly=true&contentid=climate-smart.html ——————————————————————————————————- The effort relies on voluntary, incentive-based conservation, forestry, and energy programs to reduce…
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I’ve seen a few stories recently about impacts of adverse climate on crops in other countries. AgWeb reported that France’s wheat harvest will be the worst in 28 years after rain and an overcast spring dropped yields precipitously. Excess water drowned the roots of the plants and fungal diseases were rampant, which the lack of…
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To understand how common crops respond to changes in climate, some researchers at the University of Minnesota have built a sophisticated climate-controlled laboratory for studying how crops like corn respond to changes in temperature, carbon dioxide concentration, and rainfall. I was amazed at how carefully they had to put together the lab, for example in…
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One of the comments I often hear when giving talks about changes in climate is that a change in annual average temperature is not very useful for most farmers, since temperature varies on a wide variety of scales and they can adapt to a fairly wide range of climate conditions. A recent article published in…
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Do you know what a “flash” drought is? I always thought it was a rapidly developing severe drought that primarily affected agriculture. I was surprised to learn that there are actually two types of flash drought, as explained by John Feldt, the retired Hydrologist in Charge of the NWS Southeast River Forecast Center. John now…