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Farm Landscape

Michigan farmers, residents, praise wind power

Farmers are committing suicide in record numbers—in the US and around the world. Crop and water disasters are a major part of this, resulting in loss of income, massive debt, and unending despair. For some, “farming energy” with solar and wind, along with more traditional agricultural products, may avoid the unhappy reality of selling for development.

“For those committed to farmland conservation programs, Mills said, wind farms and wind turbines help keep farmers living on their farm lands, help attract and retain younger people, and help provide diversified funding streams…”

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AUSTIN ALLRED
photo courtesy of Austin Allred

This farmer turns manure into clean water and it may be the future of farming

Austin Allred is so devoted to dairy farming that he switched over to it after growing up as a crop farmer. He now runs Royal Dairy, located in central Washington, where cows are a powerful tool in an astonishing process that creates bio-rich soil and clean irrigation water while cutting down greenhouse gases.

That’s because as much as Royal Dairy cares about what goes into the cows, visitors will quickly realize that their operation is equally concerned with what comes out of them…

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Beekeepers On Solar Farm
Steam

This new solar farm combines clean energy and bee hives

When your land trust is drafting conservation easements, or considering how to slow down climate change, remember that renewable energy will need to be a part of the future for much of your community.

For pollinators, sprawling solar plants can provide space for much-needed habitat. (By the spring of 2019, when the new native plants are more established, the Eagle Point solar farm will offer 41 acres of new habitat.)

For nearby farms growing crops that rely on pollinators–at a time when thousands of wild pollinators are at risk of extinction, and beekeepers are still struggling to maintain their populations of honeybees–this type of project can also play a role in supporting the food supply…

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Chickens In Orchard
David Silverman/Getty Images

California is turning farms into carbon-sucking factories

In a grand experiment, California switched on a fleet of high-tech greenhouse gas removal machines last month. Funded by the state’s cap-and-trade program, they’re designed to reverse climate change by sucking carbon dioxide out of the atmosphere. These wonderfully complex machines are more high-tech than anything humans have designed. They’re called plants.

Seriously though…

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Monarchs Over Petridish

Global warming can turn monarch butterflies’ favorite food into poison

Louisiana State University researchers have discovered a new relationship between climate change, monarch butterflies and milkweed plants.

It turns out that warming temperatures don’t just affect the monarch, Danaus plexippus, directly, but also affect this butterfly by potentially turning its favorite plant food into a poison…

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Solar And Ag

Combining solar panels with agriculture makes land more productive

Land trusts may want to think about drafting easements to allow for technological advancements of solar and wind, especially in conjunction with agriculture, as part of a combined effort to make farms viable and slow down climate change.

Climate change enhanced extreme weather, pests, and fungus is already causing additional stress on agriculture; solar and wind payments may play a critical role in keeping more farmers and ranchers on the land…

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Farmer Pointing
CICCA

Understanding the views and actions of U.S. farmers towards climate change

Cornell Institute for Climate Change and Agriculture (CICCA) teamed up with the USDA to provide a summary of research related to farmers’ perspectives on climate change, revealing:

Farmers’ beliefs and concerns about climate change are related to their willingness to adopt climate change adaptation and mitigation practices. Farmers who believe in climate change are more likely to support and/or adopt adaptation practices…

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Barren Farmland

Timing is key in keeping organic matter in wet soils, new study finds

When it comes to keeping organic matter contained in wet soils, timing is everything. At least, that’s what a new study led by an Iowa State University ecologist suggests…

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