Sacramento | Reuters — California communities where a wet winter has filled reservoirs and begun ameliorating the state’s catastrophic four-year drought begged water regulators on Wednesday to reduce or eliminate emergency conservation measures imposed last year. Facing pushback from aggravated consumers under the ongoing rules, water utilities say they will have little credibility asking for […] Read more
California communities beg for relief from drought restrictions
Want your pastures to handle a drought year? Do things the ‘redneck’ way
A handy mnemonic for this ranching method is ‘grass’ — graze period, rest period, animal impact, and stock density
Reading Time: 3 minutes The first thing ‘redneck ranchers’ plant is a post. “That’s why we call it ‘redneck ranching’ — we definitely don’t work in the same manner as the conventional method,” said Amber Kenyon, who operates Greener Pastures Ranching with husband Steve and their four children. “You need to start putting fences in and moving the animals […] Read more
California rules led to near 25 per cent cut in water use
Sacramento | Reuters –– Residents and businesses in drought-stricken California cut back water use by nearly 25 per cent from June 2015 through the end of February 2016 — enough to supply nearly six million people for a year, officials said Monday. The state’s first ever mandatory cutbacks in water use were imposed by Democratic […] Read more
Foodgrains Bank launches African Drought Appeal
Reading Time: < 1 minute With millions of people in southern Africa and Ethiopia facing extreme drought this year, Canadian Foodgrains Bank is asking Canadians to donate to its African Drought Appeal. The prolonged drought, which affects about 14 million people in southern Africa, and another 10 million in Ethiopia, is a consequence of the most powerful El Niño event […] Read more
Good grazing management can get you through a drought
Having diverse life in and on the soil will help get your cattle through a drought year
Reading Time: 3 minutes When drought hits, you can blame Mother Nature — but management practices also come into play. “I don’t want to say that it doesn’t matter what happens with rain and that all drought is man made because of bad management,” said Vermont grazier Abe Collins. “That’s a very extreme position. Sometimes it doesn’t rain, and […] Read more
Panama Canal sets depth limit on ships due to drought
Panama City | Reuters — The Panama Canal will next month impose new draft restrictions on ships due to falling water levels at nearby lakes that form part of the waterway, the authority that administers the canal said in a statement Monday. Ships seeking to cross the waterway must comply with a maximum depth limit […] Read more
Drought watch kept on Alberta, early spring expected
CNS Canada — Above-average temperatures and limited precipitation could mean parts of the Prairies will struggle with soil moisture heading into the spring, according to one specialist. “The soil moisture that we have in the ground right now is similar to what we went into the winter with,” said Trevor Hadwen, agroclimate specialist with Agriculture […] Read more
More producers eligible for livestock tax deferral
Reading Time: < 1 minute Ottawa has announced additional regions where livestock producers are eligible for tax deferrals. This allows producers who faced feed shortages to defer a portion of their 2015 sale proceeds of breeding livestock until the following year. The cost of replacing the animals in the next year offsets the deferred income, which reduces the producer’s taxes. […] Read more
Drought-related tax deferral zones expand in West
More livestock producers in the West who had to sell breeding stock due to drought in the 2015 tax year will be able to defer some or most of that income at tax time. Federal Agriculture Minister Lawrence MacAulay on Tuesday announced more designated areas in all four western provinces where producers will be eligible […] Read more
FAO seeks help for drought-ravaged Ethiopia
Rome | Reuters — Ethiopia faces its worst drought in decades, leading the United Nations’ food agency to call on Friday for an emergency cash injection of US$50 million to help the country overcome the crisis. Crop production has fallen up to 90 per cent in some regions and failed completely in the country’s east, […] Read more
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