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Illinois soybean farmer witnesses effects of climate change in ruined crops
CBS "News" ^ | November 26, 2018

Posted on 11/26/2018 10:32:13 AM PST by Oldeconomybuyer

At Jim Benham's soybean farm in Versailles, Ill., he says 20 acres of crops have been ruined this year by excessive rain – a casualty of climate change.

"It's like chewing gum; they're just too wet," he said of the soybeans too soggy to harvest; they'd turn to paste if he tried.

And what's worse, the 67-year-old farmer says he doesn't need a Ph.D. to know that things have changed. "When we have a rain event, we're not getting an inch; we're getting two and three and four inches," Benham said. "It doesn't take a scientist to know you have a problem. It's what I'm experiencing."

And scientists agree. A new government report says man-made climate change is already wreaking havoc on the U.S., and it will only get worse in the coming decades.

In the Fourth National Climate Assessment, issued Friday, 13 federal agencies warn climate change "... will reduce Midwest agricultural productivity to levels of the 1980s."

Andrew Light, one of the report's editors, says the evidence humans are causing climate change is undeniable.

"The part of the country that's going to get worse fastest is actually the Midwest, which is the breadbasket of America," he said.

"Towards the end of the century, you could see the United States economy losing hundreds of billions of dollars every single year, and tens of thousands of Americans dying every single year because of climate change," said Light.

"This is all avoidable at this point."

Yet last year, President Trump, who has called man-made climate change a "hoax," announced he was pulling the U.S. out of the Paris climate accord, saying it would be unfair to American businesses.

(Excerpt) Read more at cbsnews.com ...


TOPICS: Constitution/Conservatism; Culture/Society; News/Current Events; US: Illinois
KEYWORDS: climatechange; climatechangefraud; dnctalkingpoint; dnctalkingpoints; globalwarming; globalwarminghoax; hoax; illinois; propaganda; socialism
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To: Ingtar; Oldeconomybuyer

I wonder what the drainage of the area where he planted his soybeans is? Insufficient drainage allows ponding and the “drowning” of the seeds before they germinate. If that is the problem, then he needs to put in some tile to solve his problem with ‘climate change.’


21 posted on 11/26/2018 10:53:40 AM PST by GreyFriar (Spearhead - 3rd Armored Division 75-78 & 83-87)
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To: TexasGator
Interesting. In Illinois, the yield per acre increased ...

From Crain's Chicago Business website:

"Sometimes farming just doesn't pay. As the state expects a record soybean crop, ...Illinois farmers harvested 611 million bushels of soybeans last year. This year the U.S. Department of Agriculture is predicting 716 million bushels for the state. "

22 posted on 11/26/2018 10:54:25 AM PST by Hot Tabasco
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To: rarestia
So one specific crop is impacted by wetter weather. Farmers of old would plan for this and change their crops. Am I missing something?

I come from a farming family and I have no idea what you’re talking about.

How does a farmer know what the weather next year is going to be? If it is dry this year is he going to plan on it being wet next year or does he get out the Farmers Almanack?

If you planted corn in the south 40 this year maybe you plant soybeans in it next year. That is about the extent of deciding what to plant. Other than guessing what prices are going to be next year that is about the extent of planning on what crop to plant.

23 posted on 11/26/2018 10:56:00 AM PST by Pontiac (The welfare state must fail because it is contrary to human nature and diminishes the human spirit)
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To: Oldeconomybuyer

This latest ‘climate change’ push is to protect Jerry Brown’s ass.


24 posted on 11/26/2018 10:57:35 AM PST by SpaceBar
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To: Ingtar

Poor sod should check to see what the climate models say about his 20 acres.


25 posted on 11/26/2018 10:59:20 AM PST by Chaguito
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To: Pontiac

I suppose I’m making assumptions on this farmer’s crop. I appreciate your feedback. I would’ve thought that farmers would diversify their crops to ensure that one bad year doesn’t completely wipe them out.


26 posted on 11/26/2018 10:59:20 AM PST by rarestia (Repeal the 17th Amendment and ratify Article the First to give the power back to the people!)
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To: Gasshog

Funny,I never thought of myself as a brain dead soyboy farmer.
I have 92 acres of beans that I can’t harvet,too wet and cold.


27 posted on 11/26/2018 11:01:37 AM PST by Farmer Dean (168 grains of instant conflict resolution)
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To: Oldeconomybuyer
5-14-soybeans-Figure1-USSoybean-Yields-20180514

Damned climate change.

28 posted on 11/26/2018 11:01:38 AM PST by Moonman62 (Give a man a fish and he'll be a Democrat. Teach a man to fish and he'll be a responsible citizen.)
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To: Oldeconomybuyer

And what’s worse, the 67-year-old farmer says he doesn’t need a Ph.D. to know that things have changed.

...

Doen’t take a PhD to know that CBS is full of it.


29 posted on 11/26/2018 11:02:31 AM PST by Moonman62 (Give a man a fish and he'll be a Democrat. Teach a man to fish and he'll be a responsible citizen.)
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To: Sacajaweau
change their drainage to get that runoff moving..

That can help you get in to the field for harvest but it won’t dry out the grain.

Crops like corn and soybeans need to dry before you harvest. You need at least a good week of dry weather to get the moisture out of the grain. The dryer the better in October/November.

If you harvest to wet it can cause all kinds of problems like mildew and mold to just jamming up your harvester.

And if you take your crop to market too wet you will be penalized on the price due to high moisture content.

30 posted on 11/26/2018 11:04:12 AM PST by Pontiac (The welfare state must fail because it is contrary to human nature and diminishes the human spirit)
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To: Oldeconomybuyer

Never before in recorded history has an Illinois farmer’s soybean crop been drowned out. It must be global cimate warming change stuff.


31 posted on 11/26/2018 11:05:17 AM PST by IronJack
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To: Oldeconomybuyer
When you google Jim Benham, articles quote him as being Head of the Indiana Farmers Union..........

https://www.wibc.com/news/local-news/why-lower-food-prices-are-bad-hoosier-farmers-says-indiana-farmers-union

https://geneticliteracyproject.org/2015/02/04/money-talks-some-farmers-go-non-gmo-because-of-price-premiums-not-rejection-of-biotech/

32 posted on 11/26/2018 11:06:03 AM PST by Hot Tabasco
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To: Cletus.D.Yokel

Noah’s flood was caused by climate change....made by God.


33 posted on 11/26/2018 11:06:36 AM PST by Terry Mross (On some threads it's best to go jst inraight to the comments..)
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To: Oldeconomybuyer

And it’s a whole 20 acres!

I’ve planted gardens bigger than that.


34 posted on 11/26/2018 11:06:40 AM PST by IronJack
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To: Oldeconomybuyer
Dear Soybean farmer,

Planet Earth is slipping back into an Ice age. Kinda like clockwork. That means mile high glaciers will be built just north of you. Expect lots of water, snow and ice in your future.

35 posted on 11/26/2018 11:08:20 AM PST by justa-hairyape (The user name is sarcastic. Although at times it may not appear that way.)
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To: Oldeconomybuyer
There have been bountiful years and lean years since biblical times.

36 posted on 11/26/2018 11:08:35 AM PST by BitWielder1 (I'd rather have Unequal Wealth than Equal Poverty.)
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To: Cletus.D.Yokel

Climate change Doob of the Day.


37 posted on 11/26/2018 11:09:20 AM PST by lurk
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To: Oldeconomybuyer

He’ll sell his far and someone will be land that does not get as much rain - for growing soybeans.

Americans will adapt, as will all humans, not roll over and play dead as the climate alarmist expect everyone to do.

Life writ large will go on AND prosper because life is about adapting, not stasis in all things.

A “balanced” condition at any moment is a reflection not of stasis but just a pause in the degree of change that is always ongoing.


38 posted on 11/26/2018 11:11:38 AM PST by Wuli
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To: Oldeconomybuyer

Forty three years ago PROGRESSIVE FARMER magazine warned READERS that crops grown in the North would have to move South because of THE COMING ICE AGE!

A few years ago, the same magazine warned farmers to prepare for different crops due to Glo-Bull Warming!


39 posted on 11/26/2018 11:14:04 AM PST by Ruy Dias de Bivar
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To: Oldeconomybuyer

There was an old commodities saying about beans and bad weather, although it applied to dry, hot conditions: “Plant in the dust, and your pockets will bust.”


40 posted on 11/26/2018 11:14:28 AM PST by Pearls Before Swine
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