Obviously, doooooom!
(Nature) Those who find satisfaction in the crunch of a hard apple have reason to be worried about climate change: a 40-year study of Japanese apple orchards has found that global warming is producing softer — but sweeter — apples.
The work, published today in Scientific Reports1, joins a growing body of research that describes how changes in climate are affecting iconic foods. The findings mean that Japan’s beloved Fuji apples join the ranks of other plants that are likely to have their harvests altered by warming temperatures, such as wine grapes and the sugar maple trees used to make maple syrup.
“Climate changes are impacting the everyday lives of real people,†says Christopher Field, an ecologist at the Carnegie Institution for Science in Stanford, California, who was not involved with the work. “It is not just an abstraction.â€
These people really are flat-earthers, who think that everything should always stay exactly the same.
Well the way this year is going that should not be a problem. Getting the crops in before frost… now that is a different problem.
I recently saw a comment that frost is already happening in the lower 48 and MN farmers are chopping the corn crop into the silos now instead of waiting for it to ripen further.
Comment from this spring on a The Farm Journal article from a cynical farmer…
“The truth is that the northern plains still has frozen ground!! And the snow is not gone in much of the Midwest and northern Midwest. Once it is – it will take days of hot dry weather to dry it out. We are already into late May in much of the northern Midwest now. If you farm 2000 – 10000 acres like many farms do – how are you going to get it all in??
And if you do – what kind of yield is already lost!!?? Come on Jerry – if you are a farmer then you know there are some very serious issues here. Why are you trying to keep the market depressed. Always stating that the crop will miraculously all get in and that farmers will go 24 HOURS!! Wow really?? And Jerry is a farmer?? Why would a farmer run his own markets down with such talk??!
The United States now has a 60 day food supply instead of the historical 90 day supply. We are one disastrous crop year away from serious trouble and this is the type of analysis we get from a FARMER??”
Corn Knee-High by Fourth of July But Not Tasseling Yet
“…This year many fields were past knee-high by the Fourth of July, or will be, but only a few around the Midwest will be tasseling. Planting was delayed across the Corn Belt enough that ‘waist-high’ by the Fourth of July is what many people are hoping for this time….
Some areas have had so much rain, especially in Iowa and in pockets of Indiana, that small corn may still be under water by the Fourth of July, or there may be spots where the crop didn’t make it…..”
More information about this year’s corn crop (and the URLs) in this comment.