June 16, 2009, - 10:33 am
“Global Warming”?: Michigan Crops Delayed by Abnormal Cold
By Debbie Schlussel
I love shopping for fresh produce at local farmers markets. But a number of crops–particularly berries–are late, this year. And here’s why.
Hmmm . . . does this sound like “global warming” to you?:
A cooler than normal spring has delayed Michigan’s fruit crop development by a couple of weeks, but local growers say they are expecting a full, healthy crop of strawberries, blueberries, cherries and other fruit later this summer. . . .
“(The harvest is) going to be later than it normally would be,” said Bob Tritten, district fruit educator for Michigan State University Extension. “Early-growing fruit like strawberries and sweet cherries will be most affected.”
Strawberries are being harvested now at some farms — about a week later than usual — and sweet cherries are also a few days behind the July 1 harvest date.
“This year, Mother Nature has not been as kind as she has been in the past couple years,” when the harvest has been early, he said. “It’s really more of an inconvenience.”
The full effect of the colder weather on the fruit crop won’t be known for another three to four weeks, Tritten added. . . .
While the weather has been consistently cooler this spring, severe cold snaps haven’t been as bad as last year and didn’t hit when the fruit was vulnerable, said Ken Nye, a commodities specialist for the Michigan Farm Bureau. Consistently cool weather delays fruit budding but does not permanently damage the plants. When temperatures warm up early in the spring — like they did last year — the buds are killed by spring frost. . . .
Although cold weather has delayed growth, the fact that temperatures never dropped below freezing should mean that most of the crop will survive.
The average temperatures in southeastern Michigan last week hit a high of 81 and a low of 44. That’s 4 degrees lower than normal. May was consistently between 1 and 4 degrees cooler than usual, according to the National Agricultural Statistics Service.
The 20 acres of strawberries at Paul Blake’s three farms in Armada and Almont are running about a week behind schedule, but the crop is plentiful, he said. He expects his 10 acres of raspberries and 4 acres of cherries to be ready “right on time” for a Fourth of July harvest.
The crew scrambled to protect the berries from frost eight nights this summer, he said, but the fruit wasn’t damaged, and he expects a healthy crop. . . .
Dennis Hazen’s 14 acres of blueberries in Howell took longer to grow this summer, but it’s a healthy crop, he said. His plums and red and black raspberries are unscathed, too. Last year, Hazen’s Blueberry Farm lost all 3 acres of peaches, 2 acres of cherries and 1 1/2 acres of plums to hailstorms and spring frost.
Grocery shoppers haven’t seen much Michigan fruit on the shelves until now.
(Emphasis added.)
So, since there’s apparently “global cooling” now, I guess we should reverse the advice of the faddish sky-is-falling scientists and use as much energy as possible. Right?
Either way, it’s pretty clear that the global warming stuff is bunk. At least here in Michigan, we’ve had two abnormally cold spring seasons in a row.
I see a trend (the same way the global warming nuts see a trend in the other direction based on tiny erratic changes).
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Miss Schlussel:
Contemporary weather patterns seem to be increasingly weird everywhere.
But, global warming, if it exists, could bring on unusually cold weather.
After all, don’t you remember the movie, “THE DAY AFTER TOMORROW”, starring Dennis Quaid?
If, as was postulated by that Hollywood film, melting polar ice causes the Gulf Stream to shift, that’ll certainly affect the local climate.
Also, isn’t there a prophecy in the Bible about the weather becoming so confusing that we wouldn’t know whether it was Winter or Summer?
I’ll have to open my scriptures and have another look.
We can also be severely affected by activity on the Sun, or by a slight shift in the Earth’s axis.
Thank you.
John Robert Mallernee
Armed Forces Retirement Home
Washington, D.C. 20011-8400
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writesong on June 16, 2009 at 11:13 am