Spring weather has become more violent, too, pummeling trees with hail and winds. There have been two total crop failures in a decade the last one before that was in 1945. But lately, Grand Traverse Bay hasn’t been freezing over reliably, so warmer temperatures arrive too soon. Growers rely on a long, cold winter and a slow, cool spring so trees won’t bud and bloom before the threat of a final freeze is over. Tart cherries are a small, delicate crop that bakers prefer to use fresh for pies, although most are frozen, dried or processed into juice or canned filling. Weather has always been a challenge in northern Michigan, but never - at least as far back as tart-cherry growers can remember - has it been this frustrating. Here are 11 everyday foods, from all over the country, that are facing big changes: Early rains, unexpected droughts and late freezes leave farmers uncertain over what comes next. Higher temperatures and altered growing seasons are making new crops possible in places where they weren’t before, but that same heat is also hurting traditional crops. You have all of these consequences that farmers weren’t expecting.”īecause the system required to feed the country is complex and intertwined, a two- or three-week shift in a growing season can upset supply chains, labor schedules and even the hidden mechanics of agriculture, like the routes that honeybees travel to pollinate fields. “You’re putting thousands if not millions of dollars into the earth and hoping nothing catastrophic happens, but it’s so much more of a gamble now. “Farming is no different than gambling,” said Sarah Frey, whose collection of farms throughout the South and the Midwest grows much of the nation’s crop of watermelons and pumpkins. But most agree that something unusual is happening.
In regions where the term climate change still meets with skepticism, some simply call the weather extreme or erratic.
Some fields are parched with drought, others so flooded that they swallow tractors.ĭecades-long patterns of frost, heat and rain - never entirely predictable but once reliable enough - have broken down. Warmer temperatures are extending growing seasons in some areas and sending a host of new pests into others. The impact may not yet be obvious in grocery stores and greenmarkets, but behind the organic apples and bags of rice and cans of cherry pie filling are hundreds of thousands of farmers, plant breeders and others in agriculture who are scrambling to keep up with climate change.ĭrop a pin anywhere on a map of the United States and you’ll find disruption in the fields. Farmers continue to innovate ways to save water and time by using irrigation practices that fit theirīy mid to late summer, the rice plant begins to show signs of maturation with the grain appearing in long panicles on the top of the plant.In every region, farmers and scientists are trying to adapt an array of crops to warmer temperatures, invasive pests, erratic weather and earlier growing seasons. There are even irrigation methods thatĪllow a farmer to grow rice in rows like other crops and apply water periodically during the growing season instead of maintaining a layer of water. Flooded fields prevent soil erosion, lead to improved water quality, as well as other environmentalįarmers can also irrigate their fields with poly-tubing, using precisely punched holes that allow them to apply water more evenly and efficiently across the field. The traditional irrigation method is to constructĮarthen levees that follow the contour of the land and flood the field with about two to four inches of water which is maintained over the growing season. During this time, farmers irrigate the rice fields using the method that best fits that field or farm.
Rice plants grow to a height of three to four feet over an average of 120 days after planting. Irrigation & Growing March – Early August
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