Posted by feww on July 10, 2012
Drought conditions prompt Wisconsin Gov to declare a state of emergency in 42 southern and central counties
Drought has hit plants during the most vulnerable time in their growing cycle, killing their pollen.
“The lack of rainfall since May in the southern half of the state has hit hard in a crucial part of the growing season,” Walker said in a statement. “Wisconsin Agricultural Statistics Service reports this week that most of the land in these counties is short or very short of soil moisture.”
- With 78,000 farms across the state, Wisconsin is the nation’s top producer of cranberries, oats and snap peas and is among the top-five producing states of potatoes, maple syrup, sweet corn, green peas, cucumbers for pickles, and other crops, said Wisconsin Department of Agriculture.
- The state is also home to about 13,000 dairy farms with an average of 100 cows.
- All counties in the southern half of the state are affected.
U.S. Drought Map. Released July 5, 2012
Links to Recent Related Entries
Other Global Disasters/ Significant Events
- China. Epic flooding and massive landslides spawned by extreme rain events have buried parts of 8 provinces in China affecting about 20 million people. Deaths, destruction and evacuations are occurring in Jiangsu, Anhui and Shandong provinces in east China, Henan and Hubei provinces in central China, Chongqing Municipality and Sichuan Province in southwest China and Shaanxi Province in northwest China,Xinhua reported. The official weekly toll currently stands at:
- Dead or missing: 100 people
- Displaced: 1.17 million people
- Houses destroyed: 66,000
- Destroyed or damaged crops: 982,400 hectares
- A mile-wide landslide in Sichuan province is currently burying everything in it path, threatening to block rivers and cause additional disasters.
- More than 113.36 million people, about 9 percent of the China’s population, have been affected by natural disasters (floods, hail and landslides has had the greatest impact, followed by droughts, earthquakes, snowstorms and typhoons), with at least 465 dead and and 97 missing in the first half of this year, the report said.
Posted in Global Disaster watch, global disasters, global disasters 2012, global drought, Global Food Crisis, Global Food Shortages, global ghg emissions, global health catastrophe | Tagged: China, drought 2012, drought crop conditions, Droughts, Extreme Rain Events, Farming in Hell, flooding, Gov Walker, grain crops, hail, landslides, snowstorms, Typhoons, U.S. Drought, U.S. Drought Outlook, Wisconsin, Wisconsin drought, Wisconsin state of emergency | Leave a Comment »
Posted by feww on July 9, 2012
Half million salmon to be destroyed due to infectious salmon anemia
An outbreak of infectious salmon anemia at a fish farm near Conne River in Newfoundland and Labrador has been confirmed by Canadian Food Inspection Agency (CFIA).
The operators, Gray Aqua Group, have been ordered to destroy more than 450,000 salmon. They claim the virus is being contained to one site.
In March, CFIA ordered a Nova Scotia fish farm outside Shelburne Harbour to destroy hundreds of thousands of salmon following a similar outbreak.
Last month, another outbreak was suspected in Nova Scotia, but the tests were said to be ‘inconclusive.’
“Outbreaks of infectious salmon anemia in New Brunswick in the late 1990s dealt a blow to the aquaculture industry there at the time and the federal government provided tens of millions of dollars in compensation,” said a report.
Other Global Disasters/ Significant Events
- U.S. Corn Belt. Drought and heat wave are affecting production of grain crops in the U.S. Corn Belt. Iowa and Illinois, which produce about 35% of the U.S. corn and soybeans, are particularly hard hit.
- Drought conditions, have intensified since last week across the U.S. (see comparison map below) and already caused irrevocable damage to crops in southern Illinois, Indiana and Missouri.
- “By Sunday or Monday, if we don’t get rain here, we will be losing anywhere between 7 to 9 percent of our yield potential,” said Roger Elmore, corn agronomist at Iowa State University in Ames. “If it drags on into next week, it is going to be worse.”
- Abnormally Dry and Drought Conditions (D0 – D4) currently prevail in 76.33% of the contiguous United States, the largest area than at any other time since the U.S. Drought Monitor began more than 12 years ago.
U.S. Drought Map. Released July 5, 2012
‘Farming in Hell’
- As of July 1, crops were in the worst condition since 1988, as the Midwest heat wave last week set or tied nearly 1,100 temperature records.
- “The drought is much worse than last year and approaching the 1988 disaster. There are crops that won’t make it. The dairy and livestock industries are going to get hit very hard. People are just beginning to realize the depth of the problem,” according to the CEO of Rochester, Prairie Mills Products LLC, an Indiana-based grain processor.
- The persistent drought has hit plants during the most vulnerable time in their growing cycle, killing their pollen.
- “Corn yields were falling five bushels a day during the past week” in the worst-affected parts of the Midwest, said Fred Below, a plant biologist at the University of Illinois in Urbana. “You couldn’t choreograph worse weather conditions for pollination. It’s like farming in hell.”
Krasnodar region, Russia.
- At least 171 lives have been lost in the devastating flooding and landslides in in Russia’s southern Krasnodar region, reported RT.
- 17 others have been reported as missing.
- “Some 584 people, 83 children among them, have sought medical aid following the flood. Medics have hospitalized 159 people, including sixteen children.”
- At least 3,000 have been evacuated.
- About 35,000 people have been affected by the disaster.
Global Disasters: Links, Forecasts and Background
Posted in Global Disaster watch, global disasters, global disasters 2012, Global Food Crisis, Global Food Shortages, global water crisis | Tagged: aquaculture, Conne River, Corn Belt, Farming in Hell, grain crops, Gray Aqua Group, infectious, infectious salmon anemia, Krasnodar Region, New Brunswick, Newfoundland, Russia flooding, salmon holocaust, Shelburne Harbour | 1 Comment »
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