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Welcome to the Animal Agriculture in a Changing Climate Western Region Web Letter. Scroll down for current news and relevant information regarding climate change and agriculture that you might have missed.
Do you have or know of any regional research efforts that should be highlight and shared? Please inform Liz Whitefield at e.whitefield@wsu.edu
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Top Climate Scientists Assess Latest Report from U.N. Panel
Yale Environment 360 (October 3)
Yale Environment 360 asked some leading climate scientists to discuss what they consider to be the most noteworthy or surprising findings in the recently released report of the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change's working group on the physical science of a warming world.
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Livestock and Climate Across the US
Tens of thousands of cattle lie dead across South Dakota on Monday following a blizzard that could become one of the most costly in the history of the state's agriculture industry. As state officials spent the day calculating the multi-million dollar impact to the regional economy from Friday's storm, ranchers began digging up hundreds of cattle that are still buried beneath feet of snow. "This is absolutely, totally devastating," said Steve Schell, a 52-year-old rancher from Caputa. "This is horrendous. I mean the death loss of these cows in this country is unbelievable."
Looming 2014 California Water Crisis Strikes Fear in Farmers (Western Farm Press, October 8)
It does not take long for a conversation with a California farmer to reach the topic of water. It has always been that way.However, the topic strikes real fear like it has never before. California has faced numerous water crises, but nothing like this one. Economically it could not come at a worse time. Harvests are at hand and for the most part, yields and prices across most all commodities are good. Amazing in some cases. There should be considerable optimism for 2014, but there's trepidation because many producers do not know if they will have water to grow crops next season.
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Science is Not Finished Unless it's Communicated
If the public is going to understand climate science, Sir Mark Walport, Chief scientific advisor to the UK government, tells the assembled scientists, "we can't show graphs like these." ... he makes it clear that science doesn't start and end in the laboratory. "You need to communicate effectively," he says. "This isn't something just for government chief scientists; it is something for the scientific community.
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Climate Change in the News
US Ag Sector Positioned to Meet Challenges from a Changing Climate (25X25, October 3)
Growing awareness in ag communities that intensification of agriculture has climate benefits.
Agriculture and Drought Supplement (Nature Outlook, September 26, free full access or can request a free print copy)
Climate change means the coming decades are likely to bring more frequent episodes of severe drought, with potentially devastating impact on the world's ability to feed a growing population. We therefore need a sustainable agricultural system that makes the most efficient use of water and reduces expensive and environmentally challenging inputs such as fertilizer and pesticides.
Stadium Waves Could Explain Lull in Global Warming (Science Daily, October 10)
One of the most controversial issues emerging from the recent Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) Fifth Assessment Report (AR5) is the failure of global climate models to predict a hiatus in warming of global surface temperatures since 1998. Several ideas have been put forward to explain this hiatus, including what the IPCC refers to as 'unpredictable climate variability' that is associated with large-scale circulation regimes in the atmosphere and ocean.
Massive Spruce Beetle Outbreak in Colorado Tied to Drought, According to New CU Study (Univ. of CO, October 10)
Research from the University of Colorado in Boulder found that high in the northern Colorado mountains, drought was the main trigger for a massive spruce beetle outbreak
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