Crops
-
AgWeb posted an interesting story earlier this week about problems that farmers in the Pacific Northwest are having growing alfalfa this year. Spring has been very warm and that has caused the crop to mature earlier, which the author said resulted in stems growing at the expense of leaves. This means that while tonnage is…
-
Hops are one of the primary ingredients for making beer. The best climate for growing them is found in the Pacific Northwest and in similar climates. But with a great increase in the demand for craft beer, brewers are looking for new sources of hops, and some farmers in the Southeast are experimenting with trying…
-
A strong hailstorm in southern Georgia on May 3 caused damage to almost 400 acres of watermelon, according to Growing Georgia today. The hail was hit or miss, with some farmers receiving just light damage and others completely devastated. Lighter damage just punched holes in the watermelon plants, making them more susceptible to pests and…
-
A new study that was published recently in Geophysical Research Letters shows that “Emissions from farms outweigh all other human sources of fine-particulate air pollution in much of the United States, Europe, Russia and China, according to new research. The culprit: fumes from nitrogen-rich fertilizers and animal waste combine in the air with combustion emissions…
-
Business Insider posted a story this week describing the current drought in Ethiopia, which is one of the worst in the last fifty years. But unlike previous droughts, the worst impacts have been blunted by smarter methods of managing the land. The key to improvements: slowing down runoff so that it does not erode valuable…
-
The Southeast Farm Press noted this week that North Carolina has had a disappointing wheat crop this year, due in part to poor weather which affected yields. They noted that “Wet weather this year has lowered nutrient uptake in wheat and increased disease pressure. Due to a soggy February, Pythium root rot and crown rot…
-
The Southeast Farm Press reported this week that a frost which hit the Tobacco Belt in mid-April caused damage to some young tobacco transplants this year. Initial concerns were for a significantly reduced crop, but most fields have recovered with little loss, it appears. The report states that “The damage seemed worse on the light/sandy…