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by Julia Fine, ODP Contributing Writer This past weekend’s weather was hot in Iowa and Illinois. But it likely felt even hotter, due to “another episode of corn-catalyzed extreme humidity,” Matthew Cappucci reported in The Washington Post. “Corn sweat,” or the water released into the atmosphere by crops like corn as a cooling mechanism, helped […]
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Over the past 50 years, fewer crops are feeding the world’s people and diets around the world are becoming more alike. This puts us at risk of a “globalized diet” based on major crops such as soybeans, wheat, rice, and corn–which are grown on almost half the world’s agricultural lands.
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Here's where the #CropWatch19 #soybeans will be planted in central Kansas, if it ever dries out. pic.twitter.com/w9DkokOlUG — Karen Braun (@kannbwx) May 28, 2019 All across the midwest farmers are not able to begin planting their crops as persistent flooding has caused their fields to resemble shallow lakes. As Reuters explained, “Excessive rain has caused […]
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Climate change is causing parts of the United States to become more drought-prone and in other regions is altering rainfall patterns so that precipitation becomes more erratic and causes catastrophic flooding. Additionally, climate change is driving the rise in pest infestations which will mean that farmers are scrambling to keep up with rapidly changing conditions, whether or not they acknowledge climate change or not.
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