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Corn 1
Flickr

USDA: Feed grains sector at a glance

For the last decade, ethanol has helped keep corn in high demand and made it the most-planted U.S. crop. In fact, roughly 40 percent of all corn is now used to make ethanol.

The major feed grains are corn, sorghum, barley, and oats. Corn is the primary U.S. feed grain, accounting for more than 95 percent of total feed grain production and use.

  • The United States is the largest producer, consumer, and exporter of corn in the world.
  • On average, U.S. farmers plant about 90 million acres of corn each year, with the majority of the crop grown in the Heartland region.
  • Most of the crop is used domestically as the main energy ingredient in livestock feed and for fuel ethanol production.
  • Corn is also processed into a multitude of food and industrial products including starch, sweeteners, corn oil, and beverage and industrial alcohols.
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Corn2
Wikimedia

Corn and soybean production up in 2021, USDA Reports, Corn and soybean stocks up from year earlier, Winter Wheat Seedings up for 2022

For the last decade, ethanol has helped keep corn in high demand and made it the most-planted U.S. crop.

WASHINGTON, Jan. 12, 2022 – Increased acreage and higher yields for corn and soybeans led to record high soybean production and near-record high corn production, according to the 2021 Crop Production Annual Summary released today by the U.S. Department of Agriculture’s National Agricultural Statistics Service (NASS).

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Farmer
Judy Anderson

New research — Climate change in the American mind: Beliefs & attitudes, December 2022

Check out how Americans are feeling about climate change. The research is showing that they are paying attention. Our job, however, is to counter the growing misinformation campaign by the fossil fuel industry and those who are supported by them. That means sharing stories and helping people envision the solutions.

Yale Program on Climate Communication’s most recent research describes Americans’ beliefs and attitudes about global warming. You may find some of this surprising.

Majorities of Americans are worried about harm to their local area from…

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Farm
Judy Anderson

Biden-Harris administration announces availability of Inflation Reduction Act funding for climate-smart agriculture nationwide

The funding is starting to reflect the urgency of slowing down climate change. We can pay for increasingly expensive disasters, or we can invest now to slow down climate change — and help communities become more resilient.

[Jargon alert, the article will explain more]

The IRA funding includes an additional $8.45 billion for EQIP, $4.95 billion for RCPP, $3.25 billion for CSP, and $1.4 billion for ACEP. The increased funding levels begin in fiscal year 2023 and rapidly build over four years. These additional investments are estimated to help hundreds of thousands of farmers and ranchers apply conservation to millions of acres of land.

Additionally, the IRA provides $300 million to quantify carbon sequestration and greenhouse gases (GHG) through the collection and use of field-based data to assess conservation outcomes. Information gained through this effort will be used to….

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Songbird
iStock

Climate change presents a mismatch for songbirds’ breeding season

Sometimes it seems like climate change is an abstract concept — yet for birds, it's getting increasingly real. You can share articles like this and talk about how transitioning to compatible renewables is more important than ever, for the birds — and for others.

Spring is the sweet spot for breeding songbirds in California’s Central Valley — not too hot, not too wet. But climate change models indicate the region will experience more rainfall during the breeding season, and days of extreme heat are expected to increase. Both changes threaten the reproductive success of songbirds, according to a study from the University of California, Davis…

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Emissions
Robert S. Donovan/Earthjustice

Guest post: What the tiny remaining 1.5C carbon budget means for climate policy

Many folks aren't aware that there is a carbon "budget." Once we hit that level of climate pollution it will be difficult to scale it back in a manner that will avoid large-scale devastation to many of the plants, animals, farms, ranches — and our communities — as we know them.

The latest estimates from the Global Carbon Project (GCP) show that total worldwide CO2 emissions in 2022 have reached near-record levels.

The GCP’s estimates put the remaining carbon budget for 1.5C – specifically, the amount of CO2 that can still be emitted for a 50% chance of staying below 1.5C of warming – at 380bn tonnes of CO2 (GtCO2). At the current rate of emissions, this budget would be blown in just nine years.

While that is a disconcertingly short amount of time, the budget for 1.5C may actually be even tighter.

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Megan
Judy Anderson

Democrats respond to fear because they internalize it already. Republicans respond to opportunity.

What you say, and how you say it, can make a big difference on who you connect with and the change they wish to see. This talk, including words to use and words to lose, is a great reminder of what to keep in mind.

Most people now agree that climate change is real and that humans are causing it. But that’s where the consensus stops. Political pollster and strategist Frank Luntz, known for pioneering political focus groups, believes there is a better way to reach more people, more effectively in order to mobilize real action on climate change. In this highly interactive talk…

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Coastal Wetland
Toni Greaves for The Pew Charitable Trusts

How can states set ‘blue carbon’ baselines to help meet their climate goals?

Watch Pew’s webinar: Federal resources for states to develop coastal wetland greenhouse gas inventories.

As awareness grows of the important contributions of “blue carbon” habitats—such as salt marsh, tidal forested wetlands, and seagrass beds—in sequestering carbon and reducing climate change impacts, states are beginning to incorporate these coastal ecosystems into their strategies for reducing emissions and enhancing carbon storage through improved management of natural and working lands.

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Low Water
Laura Brophy

States can use federal data to assess ‘blue carbon’ and combat climate change

The Pew webinar explored resources available to help quantify greenhouse gases captured by coastal habitats.

During a recent webinar hosted by The Pew Charitable Trusts, experts from the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency and Silvestrum Climate Associates highlighted how new and expanded federal data resources can help states catalog and conserve “blue carbon”— carbon captured and stored in coastal wetlands…

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Blackbird
iStock

Biodiversity safeguards bird communities under a changing climate

A new study shows that North American bird communities containing functionally diverse species have changed less under climate change during the past 50 years than functionally simple communities.

Community-level diversity works as a buffer against negative climate change impacts, especially during winter, i.e the season that has shown strongest climatic warming across the Northern Hemisphere.

On the other hand, biodiversity played a smaller role during the breeding season. Indeed, earlier studies have shown that bird communities change faster during winter than summer, which explains this pattern…

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