Climate Change NPR Digital Services RSS Generator 0.94 NPR Digital Services RSS Generator 0.94 Climate Change Fri, 17 Sep 2021 21:15:58 +0000 https://www.harvestpublicmedia.org Jonathan Ahl Some Midwestern farmers are involved in a research project to help determine how good some practices are for the environment, and it may help them take advantage of new attempts to establish a carbon credit trade market. The project run by Missouri Corn Growers Association and Missouri Soybean Association is looking at quantifying the reduction of carbon emissions when farmers take on practices like no-till, planting cover crops and refining fertilizer application schedules. https://www.harvestpublicmedia.org/post/farmers-try-figure-out-how-much-carbon-they-could-sell 1042 as https://www.harvestpublicmedia.org Fri, 10 Sep 2021 17:12:04 +0000 Farmers Try To Figure Out How Much Carbon They Could Sell Jonathan Ahl Agriculture is responsible for more than 10% of U.S. greenhouse gas emissions, according to the U.S. Department of Agriculture, and some in the industry are looking for ways to reduce their carbon footprint. One of those efforts is replacing the kind of crushed rock farmers use to neutralize their soil’s acidity, from limestone to basalt. Scientists are running tests in fields around the world to see if the swap will work to keep the soil healthy, increase yield and reduce agriculture's contribution to greenhouse gas emissions. https://www.harvestpublicmedia.org/post/changing-rock-dust-applied-farm-fields-could-help-reduce-carbon-emissions 1041 as https://www.harvestpublicmedia.org Thu, 02 Sep 2021 19:17:32 +0000 Changing The Rock Dust Applied To Farm Fields Could Help Reduce Carbon Emissions Dana Cronin People who work outside increasingly risk their income, illness and even death as climate change ramps up extreme heat. That’s according to a first-of-its-kind study from the Union of Concerned Scientists, titled “Too Hot To Work.” The study focused on workers who spend some or all of their work time outside, including construction workers, emergency responders and landscapers. In the Midwest, farmworkers comprise a large portion of the outdoor workforce. “Farmworkers are one of the groups that's most vulnerable to heat-related illness and exposure,” says Rachel Licker, a senior climate scientist, who helped compile the report. Agricultural workers are up to 30 times more likely to die as a result of exposure to extreme heat than the general workforce, she says. That’s because many can’t afford to miss a paycheck. Across the country, outdoor workers are at risk of losing up to $55.4 billion in earnings between now and 2065, according to the report. By mid-century in Illinois, where https://www.harvestpublicmedia.org/post/health-or-paycheck-new-report-shows-how-extreme-heat-may-hurt-farmworkers 1036 as https://www.harvestpublicmedia.org Tue, 17 Aug 2021 11:00:00 +0000 Health Or A Paycheck: New Report Shows How Extreme Heat May Hurt Farmworkers Dana Cronin Amid a push from the Biden administration for U.S. agriculture to help slow climate change, a new study shows farmers in the Corn Belt are dropping the ball on adopting a climate-friendly practice. A mountain of research shows the benefits of planting cover crops -- from sequestering carbon from the environment to keeping waterways cleaner. And yet, according to a new study from the Environmental Working Group, only 4.8% of corn and soybean acres across Illinois, Iowa, Indiana and Minnesota have them. The study utilized satellite imagery to track cover crop acres across the Corn Belt starting in 2015. It found that, while cover crop adoption has increased slightly since then, only one in 20 acres of corn and soybeans are currently protected by cover crops. “Ideally, we'd like to see that number be much higher in all these states,” says Soren Rundquist, director of spatial analysis for the EWG and a lead researcher. Cover crops have been touted as a means to reduce fertilizer runoff https://www.harvestpublicmedia.org/post/cover-crops-can-help-slow-climate-change-few-farmers-are-planting-them 1021 as https://www.harvestpublicmedia.org Thu, 01 Jul 2021 21:53:05 +0000 Cover Crops Can Help Slow Climate Change, But Few Farmers Are Planting Them Dana Cronin Lin Warfel puts farmland owners in central Illinois into two categories: Those with a deep connection and desire to preserve their land, and those obsessed with short-term money. The 80-year-old still owns the land that’s been in his family since his great-grandfather arrived in Champaign County in the 1800’s. After farming it for decades, he now rents the corn and soybean operation to his neighbors down the road. It’s a crop-share arrangement. Warfel provides the land and pays the taxes. His tenants provide the machinery and labor and they split any profit down the middle. Warfel’s house sits in the middle of the farm operation, so he’s able to keep a close eye on things. He says he likes how his tenants look after the land he treasures so much. “These two young fellows are doing a great job and I admire them,” he says. Not all farm landlords stay quite so involved. In fact, some don’t even live near the land they own. Warfel says you can spot an absentee landlord simply by looking at https://www.harvestpublicmedia.org/post/farmland-conservation-it-comes-down-who-owns-it 1011 as https://www.harvestpublicmedia.org Fri, 04 Jun 2021 18:52:47 +0000 For Farmland Conservation, It Comes Down To Who Owns It Jonathan Ahl A new poll from Iowa State University shows farmers overwhelmingly believe climate change is real and will cause significant weather problems but do not think it’s caused by human actions. The latest annual Farm and Rural Life Poll conducted by Iowa State University Extension and Outreach and the Iowa State Center for Survey Statistics and Methodology indicates 80% of farmers believe climate change is occurring and more than half are concerned with its impact on their operations. https://www.harvestpublicmedia.org/post/new-poll-shows-farmers-believe-climate-change-don-t-think-humans-are-cause 998 as https://www.harvestpublicmedia.org Fri, 30 Apr 2021 20:05:28 +0000 New Poll Shows Farmers Believe In Climate Change But Don’t Think Humans Are The Cause Brian Grimmett MANHATTAN, Kansas — Ellen Welti has a Ph.D. in, essentially, grasshoppers. And yet she was still mystified about why the number of grasshoppers in a long-protected and much-studied patch of Kansas prairie was dropping. Steadily. For 25 years. After all, the grass that the springy bugs feast on had actually grown more robustly as it absorbed mounting levels of carbon dioxide in the atmosphere. So why were the grasshoppers faring increasingly worse? “We thought that this is a pretty nice habitat for grasshoppers,” she said. The insects dwell on the Konza Long-Term Ecological Research site. Their home sat in preserve, shielded from development, from farming, from just about everything people do to the planet. “It doesn’t have a lot of the pressures we usually associate with insect decline. Like, there’s no pesticide spraying,” Welti said. “The size of the habitat is not shrinking. It’s the big natural reserve.” And yet the numbers showed an alarming decline — nearly 2% a year for about a https://www.harvestpublicmedia.org/post/climate-change-has-turned-kansas-prairie-junk-food-thats-killing-grasshoppers 995 as https://www.harvestpublicmedia.org Thu, 22 Apr 2021 15:31:44 +0000 Climate Change Has Turned The Kansas Prairie Into Junk Food That's Killing Grasshoppers Jonathan Ahl The Biden administration is fighting climate change in part by pushing for cars and trucks to be more fuel efficient and reduce emissions, but so far, that talk hasn’t landed in another mode of transportation: barges. In light of more pressure to advance the cause of green energy, the future of the barge industry is unclear, and it could have a major impact on Midwestern rivers. https://www.harvestpublicmedia.org/post/barge-industry-may-be-mixed-bag-green-energy-movement 991 as https://www.harvestpublicmedia.org Tue, 13 Apr 2021 16:59:00 +0000 Barge Industry May Be A Mixed Bag For The Green Energy Movement Dana Cronin Many researchers have looked at nitrogen pollution hotspots around the country. But a new first-of-its-kind, multi-year study from the University of Vermont looks at areas where nitrogen pollution reduction is most feasible without affecting crop yield. Nitrogen is essential to plant growth and is a major component of most commercial fertilizers. However, excess nitrogen can contribute to environmental degradation, including reducing air and water quality. “It's a very critical element. There's been people working on managing it better for a long time,” says Eric Roy , an assistant professor at the University of Vermont and a co-author of the study. “But despite those efforts, we continue to struggle to use nitrogen efficiently in food production to get the benefit of growing food without the environmental cost.” Roy and his team -- including Meredith Niles of University of Vermont and Courtney Hammond Wagner of Stanford University -- looked at areas where nitrogen use is unnecessarily https://www.harvestpublicmedia.org/post/midwest-can-tackle-farm-nitrogen-pollution-without-sacrificing-crops-study-shows 969 as https://www.harvestpublicmedia.org Wed, 17 Feb 2021 14:25:49 +0000 Midwest Can Tackle Farm Nitrogen Pollution Without Sacrificing Crops, Study Shows Amy Mayer The tools and technologies that farmers use to get a decent corn crop during drought years should not leave the impression that innovation will make bad weather inconsequential. That’s the conclusion of a new study about corn and climate change. David Lobell, a Stanford University professor of earth system science, led a study that looked at corn crops across nine states during the past two decades. He says drought-tolerant seeds and soil management practices that improve moisture retention are important, but often people misinterpret relatively successful drought-year crops. “What we’ve seen with new technologies is that more than anything they help you take advantage of good weather,” he says. “And so we can’t look to technologies to save us from bad weather.” When people compare a corn yield during a recent drought to how badly yields dropped during a drought decades ago, Lobell says they’re missing an important point. Current yields with average weather are much higher than they https://www.harvestpublicmedia.org/post/drought-fighting-technologies-wont-save-farmers-climate-change 938 as https://www.harvestpublicmedia.org Fri, 06 Nov 2020 17:04:35 +0000 Drought-Fighting Technologies Won't Save Farmers From Climate Change Christopher Walljasper As Doyle Lentz drives out over his farm, just 20 miles south of the Canadian border, he expects to see snow and ice for miles. This is January, after all, in Rolette County, North Dakota. But this year, the horizon is broken up by fields of windblown wheat, piles of snow-packed, cut canola and stands of corn and sunflowers. “That whole field should have been waist high when we harvested. As the rains and snows came, it just continued to flatten it. And of course, the quality just became terrible,” says Lentz, who farms around 6,000 acres that also includes barley and soybeans. “Consequently, it wasn’t worth harvesting. We hope to burn it, but with all the rain and snow, we don’t know what we’re going to do with it. https://www.harvestpublicmedia.org/post/north-dakota-changing-climate-threatens-crop-diversity 836 as https://www.harvestpublicmedia.org Mon, 23 Mar 2020 12:50:33 +0000 In North Dakota, A Changing Climate Threatens Crop Diversity Corinne Boyer MANHATTAN, Kansas — A bus filled with livestock industry representatives from South America, Australia, Africa and Europe drove past rows of pens and concrete feed bunks in central Kansas this week. They held their phones and cameras up to the windows as a wave of cattle lifted their heads and stared back. Dump trucks full of feed shared the roads with cowboys on horses. Half of the tour group, who had come to Kansas State University for the 9th Global Agenda for Sustainable Livestock Conference, had never visited an industrial-sized feedlot. https://www.harvestpublicmedia.org/post/global-ag-experts-converge-kansas-talk-conservation-hear-little-about-climate-change 782 as https://www.harvestpublicmedia.org Mon, 16 Sep 2019 13:41:58 +0000 Global Ag Experts Converge On Kansas To Talk Conservation, But Hear Little About 'Climate Change' Marlee Baldridge Rural communities are some of the most politically disenfranchised when it comes to climate policy, and last year’s National Climate Change Report showed they’re also among the most at risk when it comes to the effect of climate change. This could mean stronger storms, more intense droughts and earlier freezes. https://www.harvestpublicmedia.org/post/how-talk-about-climate-change-rural-america-don-t-say-those-two-words 735 as https://www.harvestpublicmedia.org Fri, 07 Jun 2019 16:05:51 +0000 How To Talk About Climate Change In Rural America? Don’t Say Those Two Words Amy Mayer Early, heavy and, in some areas, nearly relentless rains have led to a late planting season across much of the central United States, especially for corn . Flooded fields can stymie planting — even if the rain lets up for a couple of days — because the ground is too wet and soft for heavy equipment. Even where farmers were able to plant, heavy rain sometimes required another round of seeds after the first ones were swamped. https://www.harvestpublicmedia.org/post/spring-s-unyielding-rains-may-become-new-normal-climate-changes 736 as https://www.harvestpublicmedia.org Thu, 06 Jun 2019 15:35:05 +0000 This Spring’s Unyielding Rains May Become The New Normal As The Climate Changes Madelyn Beck Cow guts are quite the factory. Grass goes in, microbes help break it down and make hydrogen, then other microbes start converting it to another gas. In the end, you get methane, manure and meat. One of those things is not like the other. Methane emissions are considered the second-worst greenhouse gas after carbon dioxide, according to Stanford University professor Rob Jackson. https://www.harvestpublicmedia.org/post/meating-middle-challenge-lowering-greenhouse-gas-emissions-farms 720 as https://www.harvestpublicmedia.org Mon, 20 May 2019 09:00:00 +0000 Meating In The Middle: The Challenge of Lowering Greenhouse Gas Emissions On Farms Rising temperatures and carbon dioxide levels could have opposing effects on nutrients in soybeans, according to a new study. https://www.harvestpublicmedia.org/post/study-climate-change-will-affect-soybeans-2-ways-cancel-each-other-out 660 as https://www.harvestpublicmedia.org Thu, 24 Jan 2019 16:31:22 +0000 Study: Climate Change Will Affect Soybeans In 2 Ways That Cancel Each Other Out A changing climate has major implications for farmers and ranchers across the U.S., according to a federal report. Here’s a select breakdown of the agriculture section of the fourth National Climate Assessment , which was released last week. https://www.harvestpublicmedia.org/post/climate-report-says-us-cattle-and-crops-will-be-stressed-hotter-wetter-weather 629 as https://www.harvestpublicmedia.org Thu, 29 Nov 2018 19:42:07 +0000 Climate Report Says U.S. Cattle And Crops Will Be Stressed By Hotter, Wetter Weather Merrit Kennedy Plants need carbon dioxide to live, but its effects on them are complicated. As the level of carbon dioxide in the air continues to rise because of human activity, scientists are trying to pin down how the plants we eat are being affected. Mounting evidence suggests that many key plants lose nutritional value at higher CO 2 levels, and scientists are running experiments all over the world to try to tease out the effects. Rows of controlled chambers that look kind of like industrial refrigerators are testing how plants react to different levels of CO 2 at the U.S. Department of Agriculture's Adaptive Cropping Systems Laboratory outside of Washington, D.C. On a recent afternoon, Lewis Ziska , who's a plant physiologist with the U.S. Department of Agriculture, demonstrates an experiment there with a crop important to many of us — coffee. The chamber is really bright to mimic the sun. A few neat rows of green coffee plants are growing. The air that they're absorbing has about the same https://www.harvestpublicmedia.org/post/carbon-dioxide-levels-rise-major-crops-are-losing-nutrients 534 as https://www.harvestpublicmedia.org Tue, 19 Jun 2018 15:13:31 +0000 As Carbon Dioxide Levels Rise, Major Crops Are Losing Nutrients Madelyn Beck New research suggests that no-till farming could help mitigate climate change. https://www.harvestpublicmedia.org/post/study-becoming-bread-basket-midwest-contributed-climate-change-there-s-solution 508 as https://www.harvestpublicmedia.org Thu, 03 May 2018 16:12:24 +0000 Study: In Becoming The Bread Basket, Midwest Contributed To Climate Change. But There’s A Solution Madelyn Beck Western Illinois might be close to the Mississippi and Illinois rivers, but it’s the driest part of the state this year. “We really haven’t really had any measurable rain since the middle of October,” says Ken Schafer, who farms winter wheat, corn and soybeans in Jerseyville, north of St. Louis. “I dug some post-holes this winter, and it's just dust.” https://www.harvestpublicmedia.org/post/widespread-drought-across-us-stoking-fears-2012s-devastation-will-repeat 451 as https://www.harvestpublicmedia.org Mon, 26 Feb 2018 17:40:06 +0000 Widespread Drought Across US Stoking Fears That 2012's Devastation Will Repeat