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In the 1930's during the so called "dust bowl" the farmers struggled through a period of extended drought and unusually high temperatures. They weren't educated enough to realize that they were the problem, right? -
Sarcasm? The combination of factors that led to a great cloud of dust blowing into DC, and subsequently a government policy of encouraging soil conservation, are well documented.
The point is that the climate change signal isn't going away. In fact it's getting at the bottom line of farmers who would be culturally inclined to ignore it.
Most farmers today value the research that is done by USDA scientists.Comment
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Sarcasm? No, reality! The 5 and 6 figure acreage farmers might attend a conference on global warming just for kicks, but your average family farmer with 500 to 3000 acres is worried about paying off this years loan so he can borrow money to plant next year. Climate change is past the fold on his list.Comment
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Perhaps, but the signal isn't going away. That is the point of the post.
At the local Strawberry U-pick last summer, as we were headed from the fields to the hut, one of the family owners pulled up on his ATV to chat. They've been running this fruit farm for over 50 years. I ask him, "....climate change?" He ticked off about 5 impacts just like that, from new pests (moving up from the southland) to rainfall changes (more torrential downpours). These guys have to spot trends quickly as a matter of business. So in this case, a small operation has to dial into what is going on.Comment
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Poor farming practices were an issue. So were record high temperatures in the 1930s. If you check you'll find an amazing number of record high temperatures that still stand from that period in the U.S. and especially the areas affected. For example, in Maryland, hardly the most affected state had 12 days in 1930 in which temperatures rose to 100 degrees or more, in 2012 there were 2 days over 100 degrees. 1934 remains the hottest year on record in the United States ever. That's every bit as well documented as the absence of contour cultivation and the lack of wind break tree lines.
I listened to an interview with Rick Perry, the outgoing energy secretary and he made a couple of salient points. 1. whether you're a climate change skeptic or believer it's important to acknowledge we have air pollution problems. 2. The one thing everyone should agree on (but won't because the global warming crew are a bunch of utopians) is that the use of LP gas and nuclear power are the two surest ways to control atmospheric pollutants available now.
Something that gets lost in this is the United States leads all countries in net reduction in atmospheric pollutants. In fact air pollution levels in this country have been reduced by over 70% since the early 1970s and now stand at 1987 levels despite a 50% increase in population over the same period and that isn't even debatable. There are a lot of reasons for this two of the of the major ones being the switch to unleaded gasoline and the use of LP gas in generating facilities.Last edited by Art; 12-10-2019, 07:16.Comment
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