extreme weather
Global hunger climbs 15 percent, at five-year high
Warfare, the pandemic, and extreme weather pushed an additional 20 million people into acute food insecurity in the past year, driving the worldwide total to 155 million, said the Global Network Against Food Crises on Wednesday. It was the highest total in five years.
Frigid weather hits meat plants, ports, citrus, and livestock
Snow and bitter cold damaged the citrus crop in Texas, slowed meat production in the Plains, and threatened to snarl grain exports through the Gulf of Mexico. Some traders have claimed force majeure because of ice and cold weather in Houston and New Orleans, reported AgriCensus
Farmers are worried about climate change but skeptical of carbon markets — survey
Farmers in the largest corn-growing state are increasingly concerned about the potential impact of climate change on their operations but also dubious of carbon markets that would pay them to sequester carbon in the soil, according to the annual Iowa Farm and Rural Life Poll. Their skepticism stood in contrast to President Biden's goal of creating new sources of revenue for farmers while his administration pushes American agriculture to be the first in the world to achieve net-zero emissions of greenhouse gases.
Book: Climate change and the looming crisis in U.S. food production
In harsh year, U.S. crop acreage shrinks 5 percent
The rainiest spring in a quarter-century slowed the planting season and helped limit U.S. farmers to their smallest crop area in five decades, said the government in assessing 2019 production. Early snowfall and icy autumn weather prevented growers from harvesting more than 600 million bushels of corn, and the USDA said it would update estimates of corn and soybean supplies, if warranted, "once producers are able to finish harvesting remaining acres."
U.S. economy slows as corn and soy output soar, according to USDA projection
With a return to normal weather, farmers will expand vastly their corn and soybean plantings next year — enough to produce their largest corn crop ever and the fourth-largest soybean crop, according to USDA's agricultural projections. Bumper crops will drive down market prices in the near term and create huge stockpiles that will take years to whittle down.
House passes disaster bill by large margin on fourth attempt
The long-delayed, $19.1-billion disaster bill is on its way to the White House for President Trump’s signature. The House passed the bill, which includes $3 billion in agricultural aid, 354-58.
Senate passes long-delayed disaster bill with ag relief money
On Thursday, with President Trump giving his support, the Senate passed a $19.1-billion disaster bill that includes $3 billion for farmers hit by flooding and severe wet weather this spring along with aid to producers pounded last year by hurricanes in the South, wildfires in the West, and volcanoes in Hawaii.
A ‘black swan’ casts shadow on soggy Farm Belt
Mired by a rainy and chilly spring, U.S. farmers may soon give up on planting corn in rain-soaked parts of the Farm Belt because it is getting too late for money-making yields, said economist Scott Irwin of the University of Illinois. "I truly believe we are in 'black swan' territory as far as late corn planting is concerned," he said over the weekend, using a term popularized during the financial crisis a decade ago.
Beto O’Rourke releases climate plan, includes ag measures
Former congressman and Democratic presidential candidate Beto O'Rourke unveiled a $5-trillion climate plan Tuesday that calls for reaching net zero carbon emissions by 2050, and includes a number of agricultural initiatives to reduce and mitigate greenhouse-gas emissions on farms and deal with extreme weather events.
Hurricane Michael ruined 7 percent of the U.S. cotton crop
Georgia, the No. 2 cotton state, lost one-third of its crop to Hurricane Michael, said the USDA on Thursday in lowering its estimate of the total U.S. harvest by 7 percent because of storm damage in the Southeast.
Ag losses in North Carolina top $1.1 billion, says state
Hurricane Florence hit North Carolina at harvest time and caused agricultural losses of $1.1 billion, almost all of it in row crops, said the state Agriculture Department on Wednesday.
Climate change could kill half of California’s vegetation
Research by UC-Davis says that half of California’s vegetation is at risk of dying from global warming by the end of the century, reported Capital Public Radio.
Heavy rainfall causes surge of nutrient runoff that fuels algal blooms
When heavy rainfall sweeps the countryside, waterways are flooded with peak levels of the nutrient phosphorus, which can trigger algal blooms and create dead zones in rivers, lakes, and coastal waters, says a newly published study.
Longer, warmer growing seasons in U.S. Northeast
Climate change is bringing a longer and warmer growing season to the Northeast along with heavy rainfall that can delay spring planting, says a study led by Cornell scientists.
Produce growers see less allure in crop insurance
Crop insurance is a popular safeguard for row-crop farmers, but “a lot of the nation’s vegetables and fruit crops aren’t covered,” says Bloomberg in an examination of crop insurance data in the wake of Hurricanes Harvey and Irma. “Only 34 percent of vegetable acreage [is] covered, and many less common products are not covered by the program at all.”
Rain and flooding from Harvey likely to disrupt wheat exports
Flooding from tropical storm Harvey, the most powerful storm to strike the United States as a hurricane in more than a decade, will disrupt wheat shipments from the ports of Houston and Corpus Christi, says Ben Scholz of the Texas Wheat Producers Board. Scholz told Bloomberg that most of the Texas wheat crop was not affected by Harvey but exports could suffer.
Hurricane Harvey expected to pound Texas and the Delta
With winds of 105 mph early today, Hurricane Harvey could be the most powerful storm to hit the United States since 2005, bringing 15 to 25 inches of rain to the Texas coast and up to 15 inches of rain to central Louisiana, said the National Weather Service, as growers scurried to harvest cotton and rice ahead of the storm.
USDA announces $235 million in disaster relief
Payments totaling $235 million are being issued this week to producers hit by natural disasters, including Hurricane Milton in Florida, said the Agriculture Department. The payments make up the bulk of $375 million in spending announced for various USDA programs on Wednesday.