South Dakota cattle cataclysm: Why isn’t this horror news?

By Carrie Mess  14 October 2013 (theguardian.com) – If you aren’t in the agriculture world, you most likely haven’t heard about the devastating loss that ranchers in western South Dakota are struggling with after being hit by winter storm Atlas. For some reason the news stations aren’t covering this story. I don’t understand why they […]

Cyclone Phailin impact spreads, thousands stranded by floods – ‘The paddy crop has been destroyed completely’

By Nita Bhalla in NEW DELHI and Manoj Chaurasia in PATNA15 October 2013 BHUBANESWAR, India (Thomson Reuters Foundation) – Thousands of people were left stranded by floods on Tuesday as the powerful cyclone which pounded the east coast over the weekend moved inland, bringing heavy rains and hindering rescue and relief operations, aid workers and […]

Cyclone Phailin leaves widespread damage in India – Hundreds of thousands of homes washed away – ‘There are no farms left. Everything has disappeared into the water.’

13 October 2013 (AP) – People in India began sorting through the wreckage Sunday after Cyclone Phailin roared ashore, flooding towns and villages and destroying tens of thousands of thatch homes, but officials said the country had been spared the widespread loss of life that many had feared. About 18 hours after the storm — […]

Typhoon Phailin bearing down on India with winds and rain – ‘It’s going to cause pretty complete devastation on the coast where it hits’

KENDRAPARA, India, 11 October 2013 (UPI) – Rough seas forced fishing vessels to return to port Friday as Typhoon Phailin bore down on India’s Bay of Bengal, officials said. Four fishermen were rescued a day after their ship capsized near the Gahirmatha and Bhitarkanika marine sanctuaries, Paradip marine fisheries officer Ranjit Keshari Dash told Press […]

U.S. government shutdown worsens historic blizzard that killed tens of thousands of South Dakota cattle – ‘The death loss of these cows in this county is unbelievable’

By M. Alex Johnson8 October 2013 (NBC News) – An unusually early and enormous snowstorm over the weekend caught South Dakota ranchers and farmers unprepared, killing tens of thousands of cattle and ravaging the state’s $7 billion industry — an industry left without assistance because of the federal government shutdown. As many as 75,000 cattle […]

Flooding is costliest disaster ever in Mexico at $5.7 billion – At least 3 percent of farmland destroyed

By Luis Rojas, with additional reporting by Miguel Gutierrez; Writing by Dave Graham; Editing by Leslie Gevirtz27 September 2013 MEXICO CITY (Reuters) – Severe flooding that hit Mexico this month is likely to knock off about 0.1 percentage point from growth in 2013, with reconstruction efforts in the final quarter helping to dampen the impact, […]

Mexico storms death toll rises to 123 – 613,000 hectares (1.5 million acres) of planted land ‘completely lost’

By Luis Enrique Martinez, with additional reporting by David Alire Garcia and Noe Torres23 September 2013 ACAPULCO (Reuters) – The death toll from a pair of storms that flooded much of Mexico rose to 123 on Monday, and large tracts of farmland were declared lost as the country cleans up some of the worst storm […]

Graph of the Day: Decrease in High Plains Aquifer water levels, predevelopment to 2011

19 May 2013 (The New York Times) – Portions of the High Plains Aquifer are rapidly being depleted by farmers who are pumping too much water to irrigate their crops, particularly in the southern half in Kansas, Oklahoma and Texas. Levels have declined up to 242 feet in some areas, from predevelopment — before substantial […]

Drought: The stealth disaster – Losses from 2012 drought could be greater than losses from Hurricane Sandy

By Jon Campbell10 September 2013 (USGS) – Drought is a stealthily incremental disaster that is much more costly to the national economy than most people suspect. Even as the eastern states have seen an unusually wet summer, citizens in the midsection of the country read in May that the High Plains Aquifer could no longer […]

Iowa corn, soybeans suffer under growing drought – ‘Hot temperatures and lack of moisture continue to stress corn and soybeans as well as pastures and hay ground’

By Donnelle Eller9 September 2013 (Des Moines Register) – Another week of hot, dry weather continued to punish Iowa’s crops, with 35 percent of Iowa’s corn and 33 percent of soybeans rated good to excellent , a report looking at crop conditions through Sunday shows. Last week, 39 percent of both Iowa corn and soybeans […]

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