The disaster declaration for nearly half of Ohio’s 88 counties extends low-interest loans to farmers. But CFAES experts say many growers are hoping for changes that could offer more financial help.
Further details on Ohio’s rain-caused farm crisis can be found on CFAES’ frequently updated Addressing 2019 Agricultural Challenges website.
CFAES recently launched a new website for farmers hit by Ohio’s record rain. Called “Addressing 2019 Agricultural Challenges,” the site gives help on topics related to the ongoing rain-caused farming crisis—from prevented planting to crop insurance to managing stress and more.
Ohio’s unplanted, late-planted, and drowned farm fields, along with those present throughout the Midwest, are actually visible from space, according to a July 2 Washington Post story that interviewed, among others, CFAES soybean expert Laura Lindsey. As seen by satellite, the story says, the region’s beleaguered fields are “more brown belt than farm belt.”
“Right now, farmer stress levels are really high,” Lindsey is quoted as saying in the story. “Farmers are worried about losing their farms.”
CFAES’s “Addressing 2019 Agricultural Challenges” website, launched in response to Ohio’s record rain, offers resources to help those farmers.
A reminder that CFAES’ Climate Smart: Farming with Weather Extremes conference is this Thursday, July 18, in Plain City, northwest of Columbus. The event will look at what farmers can do to adapt to weather and climate changes.
Aaron Wilson, CFAES climate specialist and a speaker at the event, says “the idea is to get people to start thinking about building resilience to the changes we see.”
Admission to the conference is free and open to the public, but the deadline, unfortunately, has passed for reserving lunch.
Interested in attending the Climate Smart: Farming with Weather Extremes conference, set for July 18 in Plain City? Learn more about it in the video above.
What can Ohio farmers do about the state’s recent record rainfall? How can they handle prevented planting and other issues caused by that rain? Going forward, how can they help their farms adapt to our wetter, warming world? Those and other questions will be answered at Climate Smart: Farming with Weather Extremes, a conference set for Thursday, July 18, in Plain City.
An event offered twice on Wednesday, July 3, will help farmers decide what to do if rain has kept them from planting their crops. The issue is becoming a crisis: The past 12 months have been the wettest on record in Ohio, and due to the rain and muddy fields, many corn and soybean growers haven’t planted this year’s crops yet; they might not be able to plant them at all.
The event, called Managing Prevented Planting Acres, will share details on considerations including crop insurance, weed control, forage production, and cover crops. Experts from CFAES will serve as the featured speakers. The event is set for 9 a.m. to noon in Paulding and 2–5 p.m. in Bryan. The agenda is the same at both locations. Admission is free and open to the public.
Find further details. (Photo: Getty Images.)
In areas from rainfall to lake levels, fish to algal blooms, shipping to agriculture, drinking water quality to public health, “Climate change is causing significant and far-reaching impacts on the Great Lakes and the Great Lakes region.”
That’s according to the science-based Assessment of the Impacts of Climate Change on the Great Lakes, released last week by the nonprofit Environmental Law & Policy Center, based in Chicago, and the nonprofit Chicago Council on Global Affairs.
Weather extremes like those seen last year in Ohio, including more rainfall, heavier downpours, and warmer temperatures, will likely become the norm rather than the exception, says CFAES climate specialist Aaron Wilson. He says farmers in the state may need to make adjustments to deal with the extra water. Read the story.
On March 26, Wilson speaks on the topic in Shelby.
CFAES climate specialist Aaron Wilson says Ohio now gets about 10 percent more rain annually than it used to, and it’s affecting farmers’ field work and the risk of nutrient runoff.