Reading Time: 4 minutes January is a relatively quiet month at A Beautiful Wild, a flower farm located in Nova Scotia’s Annapolis Valley. The last of the Christmas wreaths and floral arrangements are out the door, and the Valentine’s Day blooms are not yet ready. Owner-operator Sarah Callow-Fisher and her husband, Devan, market their products through local farm […] Read more
Outdoor weather affects indoor crops, too
As weather patterns change, farmers across the country are finding solutions — even for indoor crops
USDA announces new interim rule for biofuel guidelines
Reading Time: 2 minutes The U.S. Department of Agriculture announced a new interim rule on Jan. 15, 2025 to aid production of biofuel feedstock crops as well as promote climate-smart agriculture.
What are atmospheric rivers and why do they cause flooding?
Reading Time: 2 minutes Atmospheric rivers are storms akin to rivers in the sky that dump massive amounts of rain and can cause flooding, trigger mudslides and result in loss of life and enormous property damage.
Farmworkers in the US cultivate their own heat safety standards
Fair Food Program seeks to circumvent slow regulatory process
Reading Time: 4 minutes While regulations to protect agricultural workers from the heat have been held up by political wrangling, Gonzalo and her colleagues have spearheaded an alternate strategy. They seek to sidestep the slow and increasingly politicized government machinery and instead appeal directly to consumers and large brands.
Twice-amended Bill C-234 clears Senate
The bill will return to the House of Commons for further debate
Reading Time: < 1 minute A bill to exempt fuel for grain drying from the price on carbon has cleared the Senate and returns to the House of Commons with two amendments.
US-UAE climate-friendly farming effort grows to $17 billion
COP28 has elevated agriculture, U.S. govt's Vilsak says
Reading Time: 2 minutes Funding for a joint effort by the United States and United Arab Emirates to advance climate-friendly farming around the world has grown to more than $17 billion, the countries announced on Friday at the COP28 climate summit in Dubai.
Brazilian state launches mandatory tracking of cattle to stop deforestation
The state government plans to track all 24 million cattle in the Para region by the end of 2026
Reading Time: 2 minutes Sao Paulo | Reuters — Brazil’s Para state, which leads the country for the highest levels of Amazon rainforest destruction, will launch a mandatory program to track cattle in a bid to crack down on related deforestation, a partner in the project said on Friday. Cattle pasture is the most common initial use for deforested […] Read more
Climate change made Quebec wildfires twice as likely, scientists say
Early snow disappearance led to earlier fires
Reading Time: 2 minutes London | Reuters — The fires that tore through the province of Quebec between May and July were made at least twice as likely by climate change, scientists said on Tuesday. Climate change, driven by the burning of fossil fuels, also made the fires as much as 50 per cent more intense, according to the […] Read more
How El Niño threatens emerging market economies
Significant changes to rainfall, or prolonged droughts, could also impact hydropower output, boost food, fuel prices
Reading Time: 4 minutes London | Reuters – Countries around the world are battling heatwaves and floods fueled by El Niño, a naturally occurring climate phenomenon that has a 90 per cent probability of persisting in the second half of 2023, according to the World Meteorological Organization. The worldwide impact can be enormous, but the stakes are higher for […] Read more
More than half of world’s large lakes drying up, study finds
Gains in Great Lakes, Lake Winnipeg come from runoff, rainfall
Reading Time: 2 minutes London | Reuters — More than half of the world’s large lakes and reservoirs have shrunk since the early 1990s, chiefly because of climate change, intensifying concerns about water for agriculture, hydropower and human consumption, a study published on Thursday found. A team of international researchers reported that some of the world’s most important freshwater […] Read more
A message from April Stewart, Country Guide's Associate Editor
