Climate Change blamed for allowing more crops to be grown in more places

[vaskidmark]

http://old.seattletimes.com/html/opinion/2026106008_fromaharropcolumnfarmingclimagechange15xml.html?syndication=rss

Before there was a California, New England fed itself. Somehow. The soil was lousy, the climate cold and the diet limited (lots of cabbage, no avocados). At least there was plenty of water.

Thanks to improved transportation, the production of fruits and vegetables followed the sun, first moving to the fertile Midwest and then settling in the deserts of California. The Central Valley’s climate was close to perfect and the lack-of-rain problem was fixed by moving water from elsewhere and digging deep wells.

A multiyear drought possibly made worse by climate change has altered the assumption that California’s agricultural empire will always be able to stock the nation’s produce shelves. Warmer temperatures, meanwhile, have turned formerly inhospitably cold parts of America into contenders for that market.

....

A century ago, corn was not a viable crop above North Dakota’s southern third. But an average temperature rise of 2.7 degrees over that period has let North Dakota farmers grow feed corn up to the Canadian border. The growing season there is three weeks longer. In farming, that’s huge.

For similar reasons, soybeans now grow in upstate New York. And though the state’s Finger Lakes region has produced hardy wine grapes for a long time, milder winters have enabled it to nurture fancier European grape varieties.

As for New England, the hope is that some centuries-old farms will become profitable, as well as picturesque. Agriculture never disappeared there, but it had to concentrate on dairy products and niche crops, such as cranberries and wild blueberries. Warmer weather opens new possibilities. For example, peaches may become a commercial crop in Maine.

A paper out of Brandeis University predicts that by 2030, the New England region could have three times as much farmland as it does now, thanks to warmer weather. Should that happen, New England may end up producing half its food.

That nasty Climate Change (even if the author does not endorse it (or is it the political philosophy of Climate Change she does not endorse?)).  The next thing you know someone will start accusing Algore of trying to starve us to death like the Turks id to the Armenians and Stalin did to the Ukranians and the rest of the Russians.

I'm going to throw a rire on the fire pit tonight.  It just might bring that about sooner.

stay safe.

[Hawkmoon]

Wait ... wait ...

I thought global warmulating climate change was supposed to usher in a new dust bowl, wherein there would be no arable land left in the United States.

As to California -- look through the canned fruits on a supermarket shelf ... and the 9allegedly0 fresh fruits, as well. It's been a long time since I've seen anything from California. Almost everything comes from South America, with a preponderance from Chile.

[vaskidmark]

. It's been a long time since I've seen anything from California. Almost everything comes from South America, with a preponderance from Chile.

Well, of course.  Everybody knows that food-miles from South America are cheaper than food-miles from California.

stay safe.

[Scout26]

Well, of course.  Everybody knows that food-miles from South America are cheaper than food-miles from California.

stay safe.

Quite possibly.  The nice thing about Air Freighting in Fruits and Veggies is free refrigeration at altitude (in fact you have to be careful of freezing temps.)  Were as those trucked from CA to points east require either a refer car, as part of train and then you only have a couple of days fuel on hand to run the refer unit plus you are looking at 2-3 days of transit plus 2-3 days of loading/unloading.   Or you can ship via truck were again, you have to run the refer unit for a two-three days (figure a truck can go ~1000 miles per day per DOT rules, unless a team unit and then your paying primo $$$ for that.)  Don't forget the whole "perishables" thing.  Not to mention ethylene issues.


<---- Worked for CH Robinson for a month doing Produce.  It's a nightmare.  Which is why I was only there a month.

[Monkeyleg]

So, the politicians in CA screwing with the rivers and dams and water supplies to farmland. That's called "climate change"? I didn't know that.

[roo_ster]

So, the politicians in CA screwing with the rivers and dams and water supplies to farmland. That's called "climate change"? I didn't know that.

The solution to gov't screwing up a market or situation is obviously more gov't.

[230RN]

It's amusing to play with the "Gaia Hypothesis" on this one:

Gaia is aware that humans are starting to overpopulate the planet ,so decided to warm things up a bit to increase arable land to cover the situation.

(Hey, I'm no fan of the "human-caused" global warming thesis, but jut playing with the Gaia concept.  OK?  OK, then.)

Terry

[MechAg94]

I have heard there are also multi-decade weather cycles across the Pacific that researchers are just starting to get into. 

[Ben]

I have heard there are also multi-decade weather cycles across the Pacific that researchers are just starting to get into. 

Actually that have been known about for quite some time, but we wouldn't want natural phenomena with data behind them to upset the anthropogenic narrative.

[Scout26]

Wasn't is back in the nineteen teens and twenties that they realized that CA is subject to extended droughts, so they built these large reservoirs all over to hold enough water to keep the place supplied with water for a drought lasting 10 years?

And wasn't it some enviro-whackadoodles that convinced a federal judge that some minnow or small fish was endangered and that the only way to "save" was to drain the reservoirs ?  You know the ones that provide water to people and farms and such?

Why has no one haven't everyone in CA tracked down the Enviro-Whackadoodles and strung them up?