Farmers prevented plant on more than 19 million acres

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Farmers prevented plant on more than 19 million acres

Agricultural producers reported they were not able to plant crops on roughly 19.4 million acres in 2019, according to a new reportreleased by the USDA. This marks the most prevented plant acres reported since USDA’s Farm Service Agency began releasing the report in 2007 and 17.49 million acres more than reported at this time last year.

Of those prevented plant acres, more than 73 percent were in 12 Midwestern states, where heavy rainfall and flooding this year has prevented many producers from planting mostly corn, soybeans and wheat.

The Salt : NPR

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Is Grass-Fed Beef Really Better For The Planet? Here’s The Science : The Salt : NPR

About 75% to 80% of grass-fed beef sold in the U.S. is grown abroad, from Australia, New Zealand and parts of South America, according to a 2017 report from the Stone Barns Center for Food and Agriculture. Those countries have the advantage of "vast expanses of grassland, low-input beef that is not finished to a high level, and is very inexpensive," says Rowntree — even with the cost of shipping it halfway around the world. Most of what comes from Australia is ground beef, not steaks, because the end result of their finishing process tends to be tough.

Many U.S. customers who want to support local food are likely unaware of the foreign origin of most grass-fed beef. By law, if meat is "processed," or passes through a USDA-inspected plant (a requirement for all imported beef), it can be labeled as a product of the U.S.

August 13, 2019 Morning

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Good morning! Happy Tuesday. Next Tuesday is World Mosquito Day 🐞. Cloudy, humid and 70 degrees in Delmar, NY. ☁ Calm wind. The dew point is 65 degrees. Really kind of sticky for sure this morning. I brought my rain coat, I’m thinking I may need it later. ☔ The skies will clear tomorrow around 5 am.

It looks like a lot of oil trains are downtown today. 🚅⛽It seemed like for a while that had slowed down a bit. I know there was a lot of activism about that a while back but I haven’t heard much lately. I guess lately it’s been more about Styrofoam and plastic bags. Says the boy 👦 with the big jacked up truck who eats off Styrofoam plates at camp. At least I burn them.

Today will have a chance of showers and thunderstorms, then showers likely and possibly a thunderstorm after noon. Cloudy 🌦, with a high of 77 degrees at 2pm. Four degrees below normal, which is similar to a typical day around September 1st. Maximum dew point of 70 at 1pm. South wind 3 to 5 mph. Chance of precipitation is 70%. New rainfall amounts between a quarter and half of an inch possible. A year ago, we had cloudy skies in the morning, which became light rain by afternoon. It was very sticky. The high last year was 79 degrees. The record high of 98 was set in 1947.

The sun will set at 7:59 pm with dusk around 8:30 pm, which is one minute and 26 seconds earlier than yesterday. 🌇 At sunset, look for rain 🌩 and temperatures around 74 degrees. The dew point will be 68 degrees. There will be a calm wind. Today will have 13 hours and 59 minutes of daytime, an increase of 2 minutes and 30 seconds over yesterday.

Tonight will have a chance of showers and thunderstorms before 10pm, then a slight chance of showers between 10pm and 3am. Mostly cloudy 🌧, with a low of 61 degrees at 5am. One degree above normal, which is similar to a typical night around August 12th. Maximum dew point of 68 at 6pm. Going to be a muggy night. Calm wind becoming north around 5 mph after midnight. Chance of precipitation is 30%. New precipitation amounts between a tenth and quarter of an inch, except higher amounts possible in thunderstorms. In 2018, we had light rain in the evening, which became partly cloudy by the early hours of the morning. It was sticky. It got down to 71 degrees. The record low of 44 occurred back in 1941.

On this day in 1969, The Apollo 11 astronauts are released from a three-week quarantine to enjoy a ticker tape parade in New York City That evening, 🚀at a state dinner in Los Angeles, they are awarded the Presidential Medal of Freedom by U.S. President Richard Nixon.

It looks like a pretty decent summer weekend on tap with some heat and humidity. ☀ Saturday, mostly sunny, with a high near 81. Maximum dew point of 64 at 1pm. Sunday, a chance of showers and thunderstorms. Partly sunny, with a high near 83. Chance of precipitation is 40%. Maximum dew point of 69 at 2pm. Typical average high for the weekend is 81 degrees.

I am thinking 💭 about taking off next Monday and doing a three day weekend in the Adirondacks. 🏊 But I want to watch the weather more before making a decision. That said, I certainly wouldn’t miss the Monday meeting at work.

As previously noted, next Tuesday is World Mosquito Day 🐞 when the sun will be setting at 7:49 pm with dusk at 8:18 pm. On that day in 2018, we had partly sunny and temperatures between 80 and 60 degrees. Typically, the high temperature is 80 degrees. We hit a record high of 97 back in 1937.

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