Word: droughts
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...drought-weary farmers in the West, hot weather and high winds have brought another threat to this year's dwindling crop. Hordes of Russian wheat aphids, which thrive on dry wheat and barley fields, are rampaging through 15 Western states, from California and Arizona to Montana. The tiny stalk suckers (size: 0.1 in.) have nearly wiped out harvests in some fields. The bugs are natives of the Soviet Union, Iran and Afghanistan, but were transplanted to Mexico by unknown means in 1980 and have been moving north ever since. Last year the insects caused $36 million in damage across...
...Persistent drought has laid waste to America's agricultural midsection. Damaged grain harvests in the U.S., Canada and China will result in the sharpest ever one-year drop in world grain stocks, Worldwatch Institute reported last week...
During this summer's severe drought, Los Angeles has adopted a typically high- tech approach to water use. The city council has passed an ordinance requiring that all new buildings be outfitted with ultra-low-flush toilets that use only % 1.5 gal. of water, far less than the old 3.5-gal. variety. Problem is that the city needs 100,000 of these newfangled devices a month, far more than manufacturers are turning...
Searing heat and extreme drought have turned Western forests into a species of kindling wood, and lightning strikes have provided the match. In Wyoming last week the so-called Mink Creek Fire, the biggest in more than 50 years, had burned to within a day or so of Yellowstone National Park after consuming 24,000 acres of prime grizzly-bear habitat. In Colorado one fire that torched 18,000 acres of deer, elk and antelope habitat before being contained was rated the biggest in the state's history. Other major blazes are burning in Oregon, Utah, South Dakota, Washington...
Basic provisions of the bill would provide payments to drought-stricken farmers equal to 65 percent of their lost earnings above 35 percent of anticipated harvest. They also would expand and streamline government feed programs for dairy and livestock producers...