RSS Feed
Author Archive
Ranchers, farmers seeking solutions to U.S water worries
Posted by Reuters: Carey Gillam on July 1st, 2012
Reuters: Texas cattle rancher Gary Price knows what it is like to worry about water.
With 2,500 acres of rough range land situated about an hour south of Dallas, Price relies on rain-fed soils to provide the hearty grass forage he needs to fatten his cattle. When the animals are sold at grocery meat counters, every pound of flesh spells potential profit for Price's family.
"Ranching is really mostly about water and grass. So you've got to look at ways to control water," Price said in an interview at...
Posted in 
Drought, warmer weather persist in much of U.S
Posted by Reuters: Carey Gillam on February 2nd, 2012
Reuters: Weird weather kept vexing large swathes of the United States over the last week, with unseasonably warm and dry conditions melting northern snows and spreading drought through the southwest, even as heavy rains soaked parched pastures in Texas and Oklahoma, according to climate experts.
Unseasonably warm temperatures were noted in Kansas and across many areas of the central Plains, with Kansas recording temperatures well above 60 degrees Fahrenheit this week.
For January, the state-wide average...
Warm weather threatens to extend U.S. drought
Posted by Reuters: Carey Gillam on January 5th, 2012
Reuters: A New Year's Eve "heat wave" melted away welcomed winter snow that had brought some drought relief to the U.S. Plains, reviving fears that harmfully warm and dry conditions will persist into 2012, U.S. climatologists said in a report issued Thursday.
"The return of warm, dry weather to the nation's southern tier could be suggestive of an increasingly La Nina-driven atmospheric regime," said the U.S. Drought Monitor report, issued weekly by a team of national, state and academic climatology experts....
Analysis: Super weeds pose growing threat to U.S. crops
Posted by Reuters: Carey Gillam on September 19th, 2011
Reuters: Farmer Mark Nelson bends down and yanks a four-foot-tall weed from his northeast Kansas soybean field. The "waterhemp" towers above his beans, sucking up the soil moisture and nutrients his beans need to grow well and reducing the ultimate yield. As he crumples the flowering end of the weed in his hand, Nelson grimaces.
"When we harvest this field, these waterhemp seeds will spread all over kingdom come," he said.
Nelson's struggle to control crop-choking weeds is being repeated all over America's...
Drought intensifies in the South, no end in sight
Posted by Reuters: Carey Gillam on September 1st, 2011
Reuters: Record-breaking triple-digit temperatures were prolonging a devastating drought that has been baking the South and the dry spell could extend into next year and beyond, climate experts said on Thursday.
"Just when you thought it couldn't get any worse... we are seeing expansion of this drought. This drought will continue to persist and likely intensify," said climatologist Mark Svoboda, with the University of Nebraska's National Drought Mitigation Center.
The drought is edging its way to the...
U.S. researchers find Roundup chemical in water, air
Posted by Reuters: Carey Gillam on August 31st, 2011
Reuters: Significant levels of the world's most-used herbicide have been detected in air and water samples from two U.S. farm states, government scientists said on Wednesday, in groundbreaking research on the active ingredient in Monsanto Co's Roundup.
"It is out there in significant levels. It is out there consistently," said Paul Capel, environmental chemist and head of the agricultural chemicals team at the U.S. Geological Survey Office, part of the U.S. Department of Interior.
Capel said more tests...
Drought deepens in South; Texas driest in century
Posted by Reuters: Carey Gillam on August 11th, 2011
Reuters: A devastating drought deepened over the last week in many areas, spreading through more of the Plains and going into the Midwest as triple-digit temperatures baked already thirsty crops and livestock.
The Corn Belt states of South Dakota, Iowa, Illinois and Indiana saw drought develop quickly as the important corn-growing region got only spotty rainfall amid the high heat, according to the weekly U.S. Drought Monitor, produced by a consortium of national climate experts.
Abnormal dryness intensified...
Monsanto plans farm trials for drought-tolerant corn
Posted by Reuters: Carey Gillam on August 9th, 2011
Reuters: Monsanto Co. will begin farm trials of its drought-tolerant corn seed next spring, marking the global seed giant's first roll-out of seeds genetically engineered for harsh environmental conditions.
The introduction comes as drought and searing heat this summer have withered crops across the U.S. South.
The new biotech corn seed still needs water to grow healthy plants, but is designed to use moisture more efficiently, said Monsanto global corn technology lead Dusty Post.
"We're not talking...
Floods to north, but drought spreads in South
Posted by Reuters: Carey Gillam on June 23rd, 2011
Reuters: Sweltering summer heat and a persistent lack of rain have deepened an historic drought gripping Texas and surrounding southern states.
And despite heavy rains and flooding to the north, there is little relief in sight for the South, according to a report issued Thursday by U.S. climatologists.
The "Drought Monitor" report released Thursday from a consortium of national climate experts said that over the last week, the worst level of drought, called "exceptional drought," expanded to cover more...
Drought grows more dire in Southwest, farms hit
Posted by Reuters: Carey Gillam on April 15th, 2011
Reuters: Conditions for crops and livestock are growing more dire by the day in the U.S. Southwest as drought continues to grip the region.
Texas is a tinderbox, pastureland for hungry cattle is drying up, and prospects are deteriorating rapidly for wheat, corn, cotton and other crops.
"Conditions are just deplorable right now. One hundred percent of the state is currently in some form of drought," Texas Agriculture Commissioner Todd Staples told Reuters.
The threat to cattle and crop production...