Drought Is Worsening In Midwest And Plains States, Putting Crops At Risk

http://thinkprogress.org/climate/2013/01/29/1508861/january-29-news-drought-is-worsening-in-midwest-and-plains-states-putting-crops-at-risk/

By Jeff Spross on Jan 29, 2013

Cold snap or not, drought will continue to be the norm for the U.S. Plains and Midwest, receiving only light showers and snowfall this week. [HuffPo]

U.S. hard red winter wheat in Plains at risk
Corn, soybean crops grown in the west also at risk

… Officials in north-central Oklahoma this month declared a state of emergency due to record-low reservoir conditions. Public and private interests throughout the central United States were examining measures to cope with the drought.

The government on Jan. 9 declared much of the central and southern U.S. Wheat Belt a natural disaster area.

The U.S Department of Agriculture made growers in large portions of four major wheat-growing states of Kansas, Colorado, Oklahoma and Texas eligible for low-interest emergency loans.

The unpredictable precipitation and weather fluctuations that come with climate change are hitting India’s coffee farmers hard. [Seattle Times]

After a Minneapolis utility shut down their $4.7 million battery bank for wind energy over fire concerns, the battery’s manufacturer rebuilt it, and it’s about to come back online. [Clean Technia]

Wind energy has surpassed nuclear as China’s third largest source of electricity. [Clean Technia]

Russia, Belarus, Ukraine, and Kazakhstan have agreed to an undisclosed “set of measures” to push back against requirements in the Kyoto Protocol that they reduce emissions. [RTCC]