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Methane is a potent greenhouse gas, and one that has been linked to farming in several ways. Ruminants produce methane as part of the digestive process, rice paddies release methane through fermentation, and clearing land by burning forests or draining wetlands can all produce methane. But the amount of methane being released into the atmosphere…
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Today WunderBlog has an interesting story on Mount Washington, the highest weather observatory anywhere on Earth. I’ve never been there but friends who have tell me that the winds and snow can be extreme. Temperatures there have gone below zero every month except June, July, August and September. You can read more about this fascinating…
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UPDATE: The audio and slides from this webinar will be made available at https://aaes.auburn.edu/wrc/extension-outreach/drought/2016-2/ in the next day or two. If you are in or near the ACF river basin, which encompasses much of western Georgia and eastern Alabama as well as the Panhandle of Florida, or if you are in a surrounding dry area,…
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Extremely dry conditions are present over many areas of the Southeast, while others are still digging out from the flooding of Hurricanes Matthew, Hermine, and Julia. The map from the High Plains Regional Climate Center shows the percent of normal rain that has occurred since the beginning of October across the Southeast. The region under…
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Earlier this week Al Jazeera published an interesting story about a new facility in southern Australia that grows 15 percent of the entire production of tomatoes in that country without using soil, fresh water and fossil fuels. According to the story, Sundrop Farms explained its sustainable growing methods this way: “Tomatoes are grown hydroponically in…
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The New York Times has an interesting photo essay on farmers who live and work at the edge of the Gobi Desert. These farmers are dealing with increasing numbers of sandstorms and the erosion of their way of life. You might enjoy the haunting imagery in this article. You can view it at https://www.nytimes.com/interactive/2016/10/24/world/asia/living-in-chinas-expanding-deserts.html?ref=oembed&_r=0. https://www.nytimes.com/interactive/2016/10/24/world/asia/living-in-chinas-expanding-deserts.html?smid=tw-share&_r=0
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The Southeast Farm Press published a story by Dennis Hancock, UGA forage expert, on how to handle feeding livestock in the extreme drought that is plaguing parts of Georgia and Alabama. You can read it here. Until the drought lifts, which seems unlikely anytime soon, livestock producers will have to continue to cull cattle, import…