The
following CES publication has been revised and is now available online in PDF
format.
Circular
630: Small Grain Forages for New Mexico
Mark A. Marsalis (Extension Forage Specialist,
Agricultural Science Center at Los Lunas)
Woods Houghton, Agriculture Agent
Tuesday, August 28, 2018
Mexico will ban GMO corn when new government takes office, incoming agriculture secretary says Telesur | August 24, 2018
Victor Suarez, who has been named as the new [Undersecretary of Food Self-Sufficiency] by President-elect Andres Manuel Lopez Obrador (AMLO), has said that genetically modified (GMO) corn will be banned from Mexico when the new government takes office.
“There is no possible doubt about the ban on transgenic (GMO) corn,” Suarez said, during a Transgenic Corn and The New Government forum. In July, AMLO assigned a team to be in charge of the agricultural matters, with Victor Villalobos as the new Secretary for Agriculture, Livestock, Rural Development, Fishing and Food ….
…
“Transgenic seeds are not going to be planted [by] this government …. there is a need to increase production and since there is a sufficient technology to produce what we are importing, we are going to do it with conventional technological tools,” said Villalobos in a press conference in July ….
Read full, original article: AMLO’s Government Pledges to Ban GMO Corn
The GLP
aggregated and excerpted this article to reflect the diversity of news,
opinion, and analysis. Click the link above to read the full, original
article.
Odds of shortage increase for vital river in U.S. Southwest By Dan Elliott | Associated Press Aug 24, 2018 Updated Aug 24, 2018
DENVER — The drought-stressed
Colorado River carried even less water than expected this summer,
increasing the odds of a shortage in the vital river system in 2020,
federal water managers said Friday.
The
U.S. Bureau of Reclamation said the chances of a shortfall in Lake
Mead, the river’s biggest reservoir, are now 57 percent, up from the 52
percent projected in May.
The
river and its tributaries serve 40 million people and 6,300 square miles
of farmland in Mexico and the U.S. states of Arizona, California,
Colorado, Nevada, New Mexico, Wyoming and Utah. A nearly two-decade
drought, coupled with rising demand from growing cities, has reduced the
amount of water available in Lake Mead and the river’s other big
reservoir, Lake Powell.
If
the surface of Lake Mead drops below 1,075 feet above sea level, some
deliveries would be cut under agreements governing the system. Arizona,
Nevada and Mexico would have their shares reduced first in a shortage.
A shortage has never occurred in the river.
“There
is a real sense of urgency across the basin to protect the river’s
supply in the face of increasing demand and ongoing drought,” said
Brenda Burman, chief of the Bureau of Reclamation.
The
forecast worsened because Lake Powell, which is upstream from Lake
Mead, collected about 500,000 acre-feet less water than expected between
April and July, said Patti Aaron, a spokeswoman for the bureau. One
acre-foot is enough to supply a typical U.S. family for a year.
That means Powell will be up to 5 feet lower than expected, with less water available to release into Lake Mead.
Powell gathers water from the upper parts of the river system, where it originates as mountain snow.
Burman
repeated her call for the seven U.S. states that use the river to come
up with a contingency plan to avoid mandatory cutbacks.
Negotiations
on the plan have been slow and difficult, in part because Arizona’s
largest river users are still trying to agree on a unified state
position, experts say.
The
Bureau of Reclamation dates the Colorado River region’s drought to 2000,
but some researchers have said the river might be experiencing a
longer-term shift to a drier climate, called aridification.
‘The impacts are real’ By Megan Bennett / Journal North Reporter Friday, August 24th, 2018 at 12:02am
Copyright © 2018 Albuquerque Journal
An
average flow level recorded earlier this week at the Rio Grande at
Embudo was the third driest seen for that date in over a century.
On Tuesday, Aug. 21, the average daily flow of the river was 170 cubic feet per second.
According
to John Fleck, the director of University of New Mexico’s Water
Resources Program, data compiled by the United States Geological Survey
show the lowest the Embudo flow has ever been measured on that date was
155 CFS in 2002; the next lowest was 160 CFS in 1902.
The river gauge at Embudo showed very low water levels on Tuesday. (Eddie Moore/Albuquerque Journal)
The
USGS’ stream gauge at Embudo is the oldest in the country, measuring
streamflow in that area between Española and Taos since 1889. August is
typically the driest time of the year for the river.
“The
impacts are real,” said Fleck of the ongoing drought conditions. “The
people downstream who need to use water have less. All of us – Santa Fe,
Albuquerque, farmers across the Rio Grande (and) the ecosystem; the
plants, the fish, the birds.”
The low flows are a direct
result of poor snowpack in the San Juan Mountains upriver in southern
Colorado, said both Fleck and Royce Fontenot, senior service hydrologist
in Albuquerque’s National Weather Service office and part of the New
Mexico Drought Monitoring Working Group.
According to
Fontenot, drought conditions in that area this season mirror those
experienced in 2002, when there was also D4 – or “exceptional” – drought
conditions.
Fontenot added that the Rio Grande, especially in its northern section that includes Embudo, is a snowmelt-driven river.
“So
when you have a very poor winter like this one, you’ll see these low
flows,” with the possibility of just “spikes and bumps” with heavy
rainfall, said Fontenot. Despite the big monsoon storms in Santa Fe,
Fleck said there hasn’t been enough heavy rain up to the north to make a
substantial impact.
Heavy farming in the San Luis Valley
at the Rio Grande’s head also means less water in the river, noted
Fleck, who added that the low discharge is also an effect of climate
change.
“You get a bad snowpack, but also because the
temperatures are so warm, (there is) increased evaporation or increased
use by plants,” he said. “For a given amount of snow, we get less water
in our rivers. This is climate change.”
Fontenot, though,
says the main driver of 2018’s dryness is this past winter’s La Niña,
the ocean-atmosphere phenomenon which he noted typically results in warm
and dryer winters in New Mexico, rather than climate change.
Dry
conditions on the northern stretch of the river affect the area’s
outdoor recreation community, according to Steve Harris, a rafting guide
and river conservationist whose company, Far Flung Adventures, has been
riding the Rio Grande since 1978.
Though the overall
averages may not be at the levels from ultra-dry 2002, he estimated that
over the past several weeks, there have been moments where it was
“lower than any moment” 16 years ago.
“(Other
years), you get a nice ordinary spring runoff, and you get big waves
and people are putting on wetsuits and stuff,” he said. “This year,
they’re dodging rocks (and) getting stuck on rocks.”
Despite
low flows, he said the number of rafters was up compared to last year,
which Harris credited to a post-recession economy and more expendable
income for potential rafters.
But Harris said rafting
companies like his may see drops in their bottom lines because lower
water levels mean using smaller boats. When the levels are high,
14-15-foot boats that carry an average of six to seven people can be
used. But with narrower areas among the river rocks to maneuver, Harris
is sending out 11-to-12-foot boats that can hold about four riders.
“If
you used to make a dime and now you make a nickel (per boat), even
though you run more boats, you’re not going to realize a profit,” said
Harris. “We’ll see. It’s too early to look at those types of economics.”
In
farms throughout the surrounding Embudo Valley, acequias that irrigate
local farms get their water from the Rio Embudo, or small tributaries
from that river, rather than the Rio Grande itself, according to Paula
Garcia, executive director of the New Mexico Acequia Association.
Users
of acequias right on the Rio Grande are often envied by those who draw
water from other streams, but now the Rio Grande ditches are “feeling
the shortage, too,” Garcia said.
“It’s such a dry year,” she said. “Nobody can point to a year it’s been drier.”
What’s important to pay attention to now, Fontenot said, is this upcoming winter’s snowpack.
New
Mexico is expected to have an El Niño season, which he said typically
brings “normal to above normal” precipitation, or higher snowpack
levels.
“Right now, the outlook for the winter looks good,” said Fontenot. “How that is going to shape up, we’ll see.”
USDA Announces Assistance to Pecan Growers Affected by 2017 Weather Events
Email: press@oc.usda.gov
USDA Announces Assistance to Pecan
Growers Affected by 2017 Weather Events
WASHINGTON, Aug. 28, 2018 — The U.S. Department of
Agriculture (USDA) today announced that additional assistance has been made
available for pecan growers to replant and replace trees through the Tree
Assistance Program (TAP) as they recover from the impacts of 2017 weather
events, which was made available by the Consolidated Appropriations Act of
2018.“Pecan orchards were hard hit in by storms in 2017. I saw first-hand the damage inflicted on communities, resources and the land.” said USDA Farm Production and Conservation Under Secretary Bill Northey. “These funds will help the industry recover and replace lost and damaged trees.”
Funding will be provided through the TAP, a program administered by the Farm Service Agency (FSA). Up to $15 million is available to eligible pecan orchardists or pecan nursery tree growers for certain mortality losses incurred during 2017. To be eligible, the grower must have suffered a mortality loss on a stand in excess of 7.5 percent, but less than 15 percent, adjusted for normal mortality.
In addition to TAP, growers and orchardists may be eligible for other 2014 Farm Bill programs. For example, pecan orchardists and nursery tree growers who suffered greater than a 15 percent mortality loss remain eligible under the regular TAP provisions. Under Secretary Northey urged those who may be eligible to work with their local state or county FSA office.
To qualify for a TAP payment for pecan tree losses, orchardists and nursery tree growers must have:
- planted, or be considered to have planted (by purchase before the loss of existing stock planted for commercial purposes) pecan trees for commercial purposes, or have a production history, for commercial purposes, of planted or existing trees;
- suffered a qualifying pecan tree loss in excess of 7.5 percent mortality (after adjustment for normal mortality), from Jan. 1, 2017, through Dec. 31, 2017; and
- continuously owned the stand from the time of the disaster until the time that the TAP application is submitted.
USDA Announces Assistance to Pecan Growers Affected by 2017 Weather Events
Email: press@oc.usda.gov
USDA Announces Assistance to Pecan
Growers Affected by 2017 Weather Events
WASHINGTON, Aug. 28, 2018 — The U.S. Department of
Agriculture (USDA) today announced that additional assistance has been made
available for pecan growers to replant and replace trees through the Tree
Assistance Program (TAP) as they recover from the impacts of 2017 weather
events, which was made available by the Consolidated Appropriations Act of
2018.“Pecan orchards were hard hit in by storms in 2017. I saw first-hand the damage inflicted on communities, resources and the land.” said USDA Farm Production and Conservation Under Secretary Bill Northey. “These funds will help the industry recover and replace lost and damaged trees.”
Funding will be provided through the TAP, a program administered by the Farm Service Agency (FSA). Up to $15 million is available to eligible pecan orchardists or pecan nursery tree growers for certain mortality losses incurred during 2017. To be eligible, the grower must have suffered a mortality loss on a stand in excess of 7.5 percent, but less than 15 percent, adjusted for normal mortality.
In addition to TAP, growers and orchardists may be eligible for other 2014 Farm Bill programs. For example, pecan orchardists and nursery tree growers who suffered greater than a 15 percent mortality loss remain eligible under the regular TAP provisions. Under Secretary Northey urged those who may be eligible to work with their local state or county FSA office.
To qualify for a TAP payment for pecan tree losses, orchardists and nursery tree growers must have:
- planted, or be considered to have planted (by purchase before the loss of existing stock planted for commercial purposes) pecan trees for commercial purposes, or have a production history, for commercial purposes, of planted or existing trees;
- suffered a qualifying pecan tree loss in excess of 7.5 percent mortality (after adjustment for normal mortality), from Jan. 1, 2017, through Dec. 31, 2017; and
- continuously owned the stand from the time of the disaster until the time that the TAP application is submitted.
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