US farmers struggle to face unprecedented threats to key crop: 'It really is kind of like a 1-2-3 punch'
Strawberry crops in the state are still suffering ill effects from wildfires and floods from two years ago. The excessive moisture has introduced multiple fungal diseases that had not been seen in New England prior.
"When you accumulate all those stresses on the plant, it really is kind of like a 1-2-3 punch on a lot of them," said Shelton farmer Jamie Jones, per Westchester News12.
While the Canadian wildfires impacted crops, human health also suffered significantly. Previous studies suggest that the Connecticut agricultural industry has lost upwards of $50 million between 2023 and 2024 due to flooding.
Food crops of all kinds are being challenged by increasingly destructive weather patterns, and along with them, the livelihood of many farmers.
This instability can directly lead to price increases at the grocery store, which means more food insecurity, and in some parts of the world, migration as a result.
It's possible to reduce personal pollution by making your next car an electric vehicle, switching to a heat pump from a gas heating source, exploring a meatless diet, and using more solar power.
While each of these has loads of benefits to end-users, the climate benefits cascade to the farmers growing our food.
While strawberry crops in Connecticut face challenges, good weather this spring has provided some relief.
The Connecticut Agricultural Experiment Station is working on more resilient strawberry strains that can deal with increasingly challenging weather.
"If we can try and keep the plant really healthy – in about a one- to two-month window when the disease problem is really bad, we might actually be able to get it through that danger point and then … basically it can go dormant, and we can get potentially another full crop out of it the following year," said the Station's Nate Westrick, per Westchester News12.
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Forbes
16 minutes ago
- Forbes
Blame Cast After Texas Floods: Were Warnings Too Late Or Too Weak?
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A New York Times report published Saturday then detailed staffing shortages at the NWS offices in San Antonio and San Angelo, but representatives for the NWS employees union told CNN the offices had 'adequate staffing and resources.' The San Antonio office was missing a warning coordination meteorologist, a role that works with officials to send emergency alerts, after the office's 32-year veteran meteorologist took an early retirement offer earlier this year as part of the Trump administration's move to downsize the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, local station KXAN reported. The National Weather Service, however, issued alerts of increasing severity ahead of the flash flood, which included an overnight text alert warning of a "dangerous and life-threatening situation." 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'Rest assured, no one knew this kind of flood was coming,' Kerr County Judge Rob Kelly said at a press briefing Friday. 'We have floods all the time. This is the most dangerous river valley in the United States and we deal with floods on a regular basis. When it rains, we get water. We had no reason to believe that this was going to be anything like what's happened here. None whatsoever.' Texas Gov. Greg Abbott said the warnings may not have communicated the acute danger the storm posed for Kerrville, which was severely impacted by the flooding. 'There were alerts or warnings about heavy rain, potential for flash flooding in certain areas,' Abbott said at a press conference Sunday. 'The problem with that is that to most people in the area, flash flooding would mean one thing—not what it turned out to be. Because they deal with flash floods all the time, just like I put people on notice in these regions of Texas right now. 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New York Times
28 minutes ago
- New York Times
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CNN
34 minutes ago
- CNN
How the catastrophic Texas flooding unfolded, in maps and charts
The search for missing bodies continues along Texas' Guadalupe River after catastrophic and deadly flooding killed at least 95 people following a torrential downpour Thursday evening into early Friday. The death toll includes at least 27 from the all-girls Camp Mystic, a Christian summer camp nestled on the South Fork of the Guadalupe River, where flood risk was among the highest in the state, according to the Federal Emergency Management Agency. CNN is tracking updates in maps and charts. Here's what we know so far about how the disaster unfolded: The National Weather Service issued a flood watch early Thursday afternoon at 1:18 p.m. CT, that highlighted Kerrville, among other locations, as being at risk of flash flooding through the night into Friday. That watch forecasted 5 to 7 inches of rainfall for the event. A flash flood warning, upgraded from the earlier watch, was issued for parts of Kerr County at 1:14 a.m. CT on Friday. Then, a flash flood emergency warning was issued for Kerr County at 4:03 a.m. CT, followed by one specifically for Kerrville at 5:34 a.m. CT. Ultimately, the most deluged parts of Texas saw as much as 15 inches of rain, more than double what was forecasted the day prior. One gauge along the Guadalupe River, in Kerrville, shows the water levels hit 23.4 feet at 4:45 a.m. Friday morning, about 45 minutes before the warning specific to the town was issued. Water levels in that spot almost certainly crested above 23.4 feet, but the gauge didn't record data for 3 hours, between 4:45 a.m. and 7:45 a.m. CT, before picking back up its data measurement. At Camp Mystic, which is located more than 20 miles west of Kerrville in surrounding Kerr County, Texas, about 107 game wardens and an aviation group were trying to access the camp Friday morning, according to officials. Shortly after midday, they were able to enter the camp and start rescuing children. The floods ravaged miles and miles of Kerr County, including the towns of Kerrville, Ingram and Hunt, in addition to some of the summer camp locations along the river. As the storm receded into Friday, stories surfaced of families and homes lost in houses, RVs, AirBNBs and more. CNN's Michelle Krupa and Zoe Sottile share their stories here. FEMA maintains a database of flood zones throughout the country. It maps the regulatory floodways — the places that will flood first and are most dangerous — and the areas that will flood in extreme events. At least two of the summer camps along the Guadalupe River were in known floodways. Ten children and one counselor from Camp Mystic remain missing as of Monday afternoon. Everyone at Camp La Junta has been safe and accounted for, the camp announced Friday. – CNN's Angela Fritz contributed to this report.
