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Do we need a better yardstick to measure severe droughts?
Posted by ClimateWire: Tiffany Stecker on May 11th, 2013
ClimateWire: After more than a decade, the U.S. Drought Monitor might be due for a tuneup.
As Illinois' State Climatologist Jim Angel puts it, it's like the scene in the 1984 parody of hard rock documentaries "This Is Spinal Tap" in which heavy metal guitarist Nigel Tufnel shows off his amplifiers with volume knobs that go up to 11.
Tufnel's amplifiers, he brags to the filmmaker in the spoof, give his guitars that ear-splitting "extra push off the cliff" compared with traditional amps that only reach 10....
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Ethiopia: Turning stumps into trees traps carbon, brings new life to a rural village
Posted by ClimateWire: Tiffany Stecker on November 20th, 2012
ClimateWire: For decades, farmer and beekeeper Adila Agebo's hives in this small agricultural community were nearly dry. Years of stripping the hills of their vegetation to make charcoal, collecting firewood and construction material from what remained of the forests, and letting animals graze on the green remnants had devastated the landscape. Severe soil erosion led to landslides down the hills into the villages. Large silt deposits choked farms of productivity and washed out roads, leaving a community already...
Drought-tolerant corn efforts show positive early results
Posted by ClimateWire: Tiffany Stecker on July 28th, 2012
ClimateWire: In the midst of the nation's worst drought in 50 years, two of the world's largest agricultural companies are testing corn that is bred and genetically engineered to withstand low rainfall levels. Monsanto's DroughtGard hybrid corn -- the first-ever hybrid genetically engineered for drought tolerance -- was planted this spring in initial field trials. Sowed amid sufficient rain and optimism for a record-breaking crop yield, the company has encountered a close to worst-case scenario to test its product....
Continuing Turmoil in the Middle East Reflects Global Anxiety Over Wheat Production
Posted by ClimateWire: Tiffany Stecker on March 24th, 2011
ClimateWire: Underlying the wave of unrest across North Africa and the Middle East is the fact that some of the cries for democracy are coming from mouths in need of food. Media outlets around the world were quick to make the link between food and the protests in Egypt, Tunisia and Algeria, pointing to one specific grain: wheat. Egypt is the largest importer of wheat in the world, with Algeria not far behind. Together, they import more of the grain than all of South America. Even Pharaoh Ramses III's tomb was...
Wheat Research for a Hotter, More Crowded Planet
Posted by ClimateWire: Tiffany Stecker on January 18th, 2011
ClimateWire: A $25 million grant for wheat and barley genetics research will help agronomists develop varieties suited for a warmer world with more mouths to feed.
Headed by the University of California, Davis, the grant will allow 55 researchers, plant breeders and educators across 21 states to examine how evolving wheat and barley varieties -- which use similar technologies in breeding labs -- respond to biotic (pests and diseases) and abiotic (floods and droughts) stresses.
But the biggest stress, according...