<
https://www.theguardian.com/environment/2023/oct/16/seed-farmers-climate-change>
"Once upon a not-so-distant time, the growing season for the Ann Arbor,
Michigan-based Green Things Farm Collective followed a steadfast trajectory.
“We reliably had rainy springs and early summers, then hot and dry in late July
and August, with the rains picking up again in September,” said Stacy Mates,
Green Things’ seed company manager. “For a crop like lettuce seed, it was
perfect.”
Within this decade, Mates has noticed that the previously familiar cycle “has
changed dramatically. What we’ve gotten the last three years is drought in June
and then torrential rains in July and August,” causing complete lettuce seed
crop failures two years running. This year, after golf ball-sized hail,
numerous severe thunderstorms and 75mph winds, a first crop of seed never
matured. Mates treated a second crop with kid gloves, trellising the plants and
covering them with shade cloth in hopes they’d survive another deluge. By late
September, Mates had managed a solid harvest, with enough seed to sell.
Farmers are already fighting many battles in a growing season: beating back
powdery mildew on cucumbers, hornworms devouring tomato leaves and strawberries
plagued by verticillium rot. But for the farmers who grow the seeds that wind
up in our seed packets and undergird our horticultural adventures, production
has become ever more difficult.
So difficult, in fact, that Green Things recently decided it would call it
quits on growing for seeds. Mates can’t say for certain just how much climate
change is to blame for production challenges, only that its role is undeniable.
“We are not having normal seasons any more”, said Lane Selman, an agricultural
researcher at Oregon State University and founder of a seed-producer community
called the Culinary Breeding Network. As the northern hemisphere shakes off its
hottest summer on record, intensifying weather events threaten the variety we
take for granted when we page through winter-delivered seed catalogues,
dreaming of a bountiful spring.
“Every seed company is facing these problems, but they probably wouldn’t want
to tell you that,” said Alan Sparks, an industry veteran who consults for Baker
Creek Seeds. “‘We’ve got everything in control! Everything’s gonna be OK!’ But
it’s not OK.”"
Via Diane A.
Cheers,
*** Xanni ***
--
mailto:xanni@xanadu.net Andrew Pam
http://xanadu.com.au/ Chief Scientist, Xanadu
https://glasswings.com.au/ Partner, Glass Wings
https://sericyb.com.au/ Manager, Serious Cybernetics
