Re:Western Kansas wheat crops are failing just when the worl...
by MrFlibbles on Tuesday June 21, 2022 @03:47PM
(#31828283)
Y'all realize its a desert out there, don't you? I used to live out there. Not Lane County, but its neighbor, Scott County. Google "Great American Desert". Its dry. Its hot. The wind blows to the point that 30 MPH is considered a "breeze". Nothing grows without irrigation. The Ogallala Aquifer is being emptied, just like Lake Mead and every other source of water.
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Re:Western Kansas wheat crops are failing just when the worl...
by jlkuester7 on Tuesday June 21, 2022 @05:27PM
(#31829308)
This is a misleading take. Modern wheat strains grow with a crazy small amount of water (hence there still being _some_ crop to harvest despite an almost total lack of precipitation). Additionally, the farmers in this region understand the ecological realities that they are dealing with and many (included the one interviewed for this article) help maintain moisture content in the soil by not growing a crop every year. I have friends who own a farm in Eastern CO (so ~150mi east of KS) and they only plant a crop every other year.
It is dry and sandy country, but far from lifeless... (and far from what people normally think of as "desert" (e.g. the Sahara, or parts of the SW United States).