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posted by martyb on Thursday August 10 2017, @04:31PM   Printer-friendly
from the higher-food-prices-coming dept.

CleanTechnica reports

The "flash drought" that came out of nowhere this summer in the US High Plains, afflicting Montana and the Dakotas the worst, has already destroyed more than half of this year's wheat crop, going by some recent field surveys. Considering that the region is now one of the top wheat-growing regions in the world, the damage is very notable.

These so-called flash droughts are expected to become considerably more common over the coming decades as the climate continues warming and weather patterns continue changing.

[...] Something that's interesting to note here is that 2011, only 6 years back, was actually one of the wettest years on record in eastern Montana. Those sorts of rapid swings between extreme precipitation and flooding on the one hand, and extreme flash droughts on the other, are only going to become more common from here on out. Eventually, most of the agriculture in the region will have to cease.

Grist calls this a Cereal Killer.


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  • (Score: 1) by khallow on Friday August 11 2017, @08:30PM

    by khallow (3766) Subscriber Badge on Friday August 11 2017, @08:30PM (#552561) Journal

    OK, if agriculture and ranching and food production in general aren't important enough for you, how about the missile fields the infrastructure in Montana also serves? Oil production in the Bakken Formation, which is almost as much in NE Montana as in NW North Dakota? Those things are manly and important enough to care about, aren't they?

    None of that stuff is dependent on Amtrak or airport subsidies. But yes, I don't consider them important enough. If the local economy can't find enough money to pay for its own airport service from oil production and such, then it probably shouldn't have that airport service. I don't mind if you choose to live in the middle of nowhere. But if you do, man up and accept that you don't deserve shiny services from the federal government just like no one else deserves such services for all the stuff they do or the places they live.