Farmers dealing with drought and freeze damage to wheat, lack of custom harvesters
http://www.enidnews.com/localnews/local_story_146224521.html
By Robert Barron, Staff Writer
As if farmers didn’t already have enough problems, now Kansas custom cutters are saying they may not come into Oklahoma or Texas because of poor wheat conditions.
Drought and freeze have damaged the wheat crops in both states to the point many cutters are making the decision to cut their losses. Officials estimate Oklahoma’s crops will be about half of its normal yield.
NDakota Ranchers Trying to Rebound from String of Disasters
May 28, 2009
By Blake Nicholson
AP
BISMARCK, N.D. -- North Dakota ranchers are trying to rebound from a string of disasters: Drought last year shriveled their pastures and hayland followed by heavy winter snow, then spring flooding that turned roads and fields to mud.
Hay supplies already low from last year's dry weather were depleted by cows that needed more energy than usual to survive one of the roughest winters in memory.
So folks...heads up...many things to think about and prepare for!
Showing posts with label home gardening. Show all posts
Showing posts with label home gardening. Show all posts
Friday, May 29, 2009
Wednesday, May 20, 2009
Global Food Crisis Looms! It's Not Too Late To Plant That Garden!
According to a recent National Geographic article, the world food crisis has NOT gone away. Certainly the world's attention has been distracted of late due to the potential flu pandemic. However, it is important to keep in mind, the food crisis is not solved...
"Modern society has relieved us of the burden of growing, harvesting, even preparing our daily bread, in exchange for the burden of simply paying for it. Only when prices rise do we take notice. And the consequences of our inattention are profound.
Last year the skyrocketing cost of food was a wake-up call for the planet. Between 2005 and the summer of 2008, the price of wheat and corn tripled, and the price of rice climbed fivefold, spurring food riots in nearly two dozen countries and pushing 75 million more people into poverty. But unlike previous shocks driven by short-term food shortages, this price spike came in a year when the world's farmers reaped a record grain crop. This time, the high prices were a symptom of a larger problem tugging at the strands of our worldwide food web, one that's not going away anytime soon. Simply put: For most of the past decade, the world has been consuming more food than it has been producing. After years of drawing down stockpiles, in 2007 the world saw global carryover stocks fall to 61 days of global consumption, the second lowest on record.
"Agricultural productivity growth is only one to two percent a year," warned Joachim von Braun, director general of the International Food Policy Research Institute in Washington, D.C., at the height of the crisis. "This is too low to meet population growth and increased demand."
High prices are the ultimate signal that demand is outstripping supply, that there is simply not enough food to go around. Such agflation hits the poorest billion people on the planet the hardest, since they typically spend 50 to 70 percent of their income on food. Even though prices have fallen with the imploding world economy, they are still near record highs, and the underlying problems of low stockpiles, rising population, and flattening yield growth remain. Climate change—with its hotter growing seasons and increasing water scarcity—is projected to reduce future harvests in much of the world, raising the specter of what some scientists are now calling a perpetual food crisis.
So what is a hot, crowded, and hungry world to do?"
http://ngm.nationalgeographic.com/2009/06/cheap-food/bourne-text/4
You personally can and should do something about it. And, it is not too late. Growing your own fruits and vegetables makes perfect sense in today's crazy world. Obtain your non-hybrid seeds and become more self-sufficient!
"Modern society has relieved us of the burden of growing, harvesting, even preparing our daily bread, in exchange for the burden of simply paying for it. Only when prices rise do we take notice. And the consequences of our inattention are profound.
Last year the skyrocketing cost of food was a wake-up call for the planet. Between 2005 and the summer of 2008, the price of wheat and corn tripled, and the price of rice climbed fivefold, spurring food riots in nearly two dozen countries and pushing 75 million more people into poverty. But unlike previous shocks driven by short-term food shortages, this price spike came in a year when the world's farmers reaped a record grain crop. This time, the high prices were a symptom of a larger problem tugging at the strands of our worldwide food web, one that's not going away anytime soon. Simply put: For most of the past decade, the world has been consuming more food than it has been producing. After years of drawing down stockpiles, in 2007 the world saw global carryover stocks fall to 61 days of global consumption, the second lowest on record.
"Agricultural productivity growth is only one to two percent a year," warned Joachim von Braun, director general of the International Food Policy Research Institute in Washington, D.C., at the height of the crisis. "This is too low to meet population growth and increased demand."
High prices are the ultimate signal that demand is outstripping supply, that there is simply not enough food to go around. Such agflation hits the poorest billion people on the planet the hardest, since they typically spend 50 to 70 percent of their income on food. Even though prices have fallen with the imploding world economy, they are still near record highs, and the underlying problems of low stockpiles, rising population, and flattening yield growth remain. Climate change—with its hotter growing seasons and increasing water scarcity—is projected to reduce future harvests in much of the world, raising the specter of what some scientists are now calling a perpetual food crisis.
So what is a hot, crowded, and hungry world to do?"
http://ngm.nationalgeographic.com/2009/06/cheap-food/bourne-text/4
You personally can and should do something about it. And, it is not too late. Growing your own fruits and vegetables makes perfect sense in today's crazy world. Obtain your non-hybrid seeds and become more self-sufficient!
Thursday, April 16, 2009
Backyard Home Garden and Backyard Chickens: They Go Together Likes Birds To A Feather!
Are you still planning to put in a garden this year and also raise backyard chickens? Here's an idea you may want to consider...plant your garden and put your chicken coop in the same area...let me explain.
1. Choose a suitable place for your garden and fence twice as much growing space as you will need to grow your various vegetables.
2. Put a gate at each end of your rectangular plot.
3. Build your chicken coop directly in the center of your "compound", and divide that area right down the middle with more fencing. Make sure there is a door on each side of your new chicken coop.
4. The "first" year of your garden, plant vegetables on one half of your plot, while on the other half of your plot, the chickens run free in their yard.
5. At the end of the gardening season, let your chickens have the run of the whole place.
6. The next gardening season, rotate the whole operation: plant your garden on the alternate side, and let the chickens have the run of the area that was your garden last year!
7. Keep this rotation system up each year. Not only will your chickens naturally fertilize the area for your future garden each year, they will do a dandy job of ridding unwanted bugs and insects!
As a reminder, order your heirloom seeds and garden supplies from:
or click on the banner for Survival Seeds
Happy Gardening!
1. Choose a suitable place for your garden and fence twice as much growing space as you will need to grow your various vegetables.
2. Put a gate at each end of your rectangular plot.
3. Build your chicken coop directly in the center of your "compound", and divide that area right down the middle with more fencing. Make sure there is a door on each side of your new chicken coop.
4. The "first" year of your garden, plant vegetables on one half of your plot, while on the other half of your plot, the chickens run free in their yard.
5. At the end of the gardening season, let your chickens have the run of the whole place.
6. The next gardening season, rotate the whole operation: plant your garden on the alternate side, and let the chickens have the run of the area that was your garden last year!
7. Keep this rotation system up each year. Not only will your chickens naturally fertilize the area for your future garden each year, they will do a dandy job of ridding unwanted bugs and insects!
As a reminder, order your heirloom seeds and garden supplies from:
or click on the banner for Survival Seeds
Happy Gardening!
Tuesday, April 14, 2009
Surviving the Economic Downturn: Grow A Backyard Vegetable Garden!
Costs of food, fuel and every thing else seems to be on the rise. To complicate matters, the economy is in the toilet. How can you make changes in your life to help alleviate the stress and strain on your budget? One of the greatest movements that is happening in the US is the movement towards growing your own vegetables in your own backyard. Is this viable? Is it cost effective. Let's look briefly at a recent article written by Alex Johnson for MSNBC.
Fighting the Recession, Armed with Seeds
Home gardening experiences a boom as families seek to cut food costs
April 7, 2009
"Kinne is part of a growing movement of Americans who are turning to their own resources to fight the economic recession, now in its 16th month. As paychecks and job opportunities shrink in tandem with rising prices at the store, more and more households are growing their own food in their backyards, in shared community-run gardens and even on their windowsills.
Kinne estimates that her garden saves her at least a $150 a month in grocery bills. And that doesn’t include the money she saves on services from professionals whom she pays with the fresh food she grows and the labor she provides helping them plant their own gardens
The National Gardening Association said its survey, conducted in January by Harris Interactive Inc., showed that 57 percent of American home gardens were smaller than 100 square feet. It projected that the average garden could produce 300 pounds of fresh produce worth $600, a return of $530 based on an average investment of $70."
As you can see, the investment and time put towards a home garden is not only economical, but is good for nutrition, a stress reduction, and just plain smart! I highly recommend you invest in heirloom seeds, as these seeds can be saved from year to year. Your initial investment in garden equipment and seeds for the first year may seem high, but this is an investment that will pay dividends in the years ahead. Please click on the banners SURVIVAL SEEDS, OR TOMATOFEST located to the right to get started on obtaining the best seeds possible for your garden! Make the right investment today!
Fighting the Recession, Armed with Seeds
Home gardening experiences a boom as families seek to cut food costs
April 7, 2009
"Kinne is part of a growing movement of Americans who are turning to their own resources to fight the economic recession, now in its 16th month. As paychecks and job opportunities shrink in tandem with rising prices at the store, more and more households are growing their own food in their backyards, in shared community-run gardens and even on their windowsills.
Kinne estimates that her garden saves her at least a $150 a month in grocery bills. And that doesn’t include the money she saves on services from professionals whom she pays with the fresh food she grows and the labor she provides helping them plant their own gardens
The National Gardening Association said its survey, conducted in January by Harris Interactive Inc., showed that 57 percent of American home gardens were smaller than 100 square feet. It projected that the average garden could produce 300 pounds of fresh produce worth $600, a return of $530 based on an average investment of $70."
As you can see, the investment and time put towards a home garden is not only economical, but is good for nutrition, a stress reduction, and just plain smart! I highly recommend you invest in heirloom seeds, as these seeds can be saved from year to year. Your initial investment in garden equipment and seeds for the first year may seem high, but this is an investment that will pay dividends in the years ahead. Please click on the banners SURVIVAL SEEDS, OR TOMATOFEST located to the right to get started on obtaining the best seeds possible for your garden! Make the right investment today!
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