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Adam Rabinowitz of UGA posted a story in Southeast Farm Press this week which discussed the large yield of peanuts that were harvested this year. While Hurricane Irma negatively impacted the cotton crop, it did not affect the peanut yields in any meaningful way and both irrigated and dryland crops were expected to do well…
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If you like beer (and I do, since I am from Wisconsin), you may be interested in this story by National Public Radio about a lesser-known reformation led by Martin Luther–the movement to put hops in beer instead of herbs. Nowadays, hoppy beers are all the rage, but at the time of the Reformation 500…
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Happy Halloween! Or if you are a Calvinist like me, Happy Reformation Day! Here is an interesting story from Paris Review on the eruption of Mount Tambora 201 years ago and the “Year without a Summer” that brought freezing conditions and atmospheric gloom to much of the Northern Hemisphere. The conditions led Mary Shelley and…
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Do you ever plan outdoor events where the weather is likely to be a factor? A fun run, a church or neighborhood picnic, or a wedding? If so, you might be interested in this quick and easy place to find the weather on a particular date in previous years. While, as they say, “past performance…
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Drovers’ Newsletter posted a story today that describes the accumulated costs of Hurricane Harvey on Texas agriculture. The major financial impacts of the storm were due to losses of cotton and losses to livestock. The new estimates include both the costs of animals killed in the storm and the costs of damage to infrastructure like…
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How do cartographers (map-makers) deal with changes in landscapes over time that make their maps obsolete? Atlas Obscura has an interesting story this week on what cartographers do to deal with changes in Arctic sea ice maps as well as changes in coastlines caused by rising sea levels and warmer oceans. Of course other things…
Posted in: Climate and Ag in the news -
Bloomberg News published a story on carbon dioxide levels last year, which reached a level unseen in the last 800,000 years due to the twin influences of El Niño and greenhouse gas emissions. While levels have decreased somewhat in recent months as the El Niño eased and moved to neutral and now weak La Niña-like…
Posted in: Climate and Ag in the news