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Maybe I go back too far, or don’t appropriately comprehend “Now, and the future”, because I’m wondering about the rainfall bounty of last fall, and whether it will compensate in any way, for the lack of snowfall this winter. This being middle February, winter isn’t over yet. But, while the forecasters keep warning us of the snowfall to come, they also hasten to add, “scattered, light, narrow band, and won’t impact this or that region”. I checked, and I believe all this is essentially supported by Jeff Andresen, who offers meteorological commentary by way of the Cooperative Extension Service at Michigan State University. He does not, nor does anyone I know about, address the weather thing that bothered me all during December and continues. I wonder,
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is there enough water underground to support spring planting, and the subsequent growing season. And also, assuming we get some hard freeze conditions, will there be enough
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snow blanket to protect fall-planted crops- – – wheat, for example.
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This could be, I suppose, what Shakespeare had in mind when he wrote, “Much Ado About Nothing”. But I remember these kinds of concerns from when I was a youngster, and the weather seems pretty much the same, and a kernel of wheat certainly looks the same – – – So?
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Looking at the Letter from the President, in the January 30th issue of MICHIGAN FARM NEWS, I see Carl Bednarski’s contention that the outlook for most production agriculture in 2020 is refreshing. He then goes on to regale us with the up-side of the U S-China Phase One trade agreement, but also acknowledging China may have trouble, financially, in meeting the purchase obligations; and then there’s the USMCA. That agreement, Bednarski points out, paves the way for intensified agricultural biotechnology – – gene editing, for example.
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Well, I didn’t see any assurance anywhere along there, that this cockeyed weather SYSTEM, OR SYSTEMS COULD BE EXPECTED TO MODERATE TO BECOME MORE LIKE THE OLD DAYS,
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When we had some snow in November, a lot of snow in December, January, and February; Spring weather started in March, by late April those winter-planted crops, having been protected by the snow, from the plant-killing freezes of winter, were starting to show the new-season green, and the new year was well under way. Not so, so far this year, and I wonder . . . . . . .
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WATER, WATER EVERYWHERE
By localnews@mwcradio.com
Aug 17, 2020 | 3:41 PM