Fruit
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Here is a very interesting article about how the percentage of land in agriculture across the world has changed over time. If you look at the changes in cropland in the Southeast, you can see decreases in the coastal plains and increases in other areas. Not too surprising, since forested land is not considered to…
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Food & Wine produced a story earlier this week about how the weather in the wine-growing regions of Italy this year has caused serious decreases in the yield of the wine grapes. According to the story, “Coldiretti (the Italian farmers association) blames the low yields on what it called “bizarre” weather, with many areas experiencing…
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The Southeast Farm Press had a short article this week which said that many South Carolina watermelon farmers are reporting crops that are twice their usual size this year. Watermelons cover 8,000 acres of the state and are produced in every county, although they are concentrated in the Low Country and the Sand Hills region. …
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Have the past two winters of warm weather in Florida provided a look ahead to what conditions might look like in the future? An AP report published in AgWeb today discuss how the warm temperatures impacted strawberry production in Florida and what it might mean for future production of the fruit in a warmer climate.…
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The Guardian posted a short article today discussing the low production of French wine expected this year after a spring cold snap caused problems for grape growers, especially in the Bordeaux region of southwest France, although bad weather also affected other areas of the country. However, vintners are not yet sure about the quality of…
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NOAA’s Climate.gov blog has a good discussion of the mid-March freeze event by Jake Crouch. It describes how it fits into historical context both with the warm winter that preceded it and the comparison to average last frost dates. It also describes what damage it caused, both to peaches and blueberries as well as pastures.…
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The Southeast Farm Press posted a story today about the lack of peaches in South Carolina due to the combination of a warm winter followed by a severe frost in mid-March, which killed off about 90% of the peaches in the state this year. The estimated losses to the SC peach crop are estimated at…