All life on Planet Earth faces threats from Global Warming, in a multitude of different ways. Our entire natural and built environment is threatened in a multitude of other ways, such as agricultural poisons and soil degradation, which are made much worse by droughts and flooding and fires. Agriculture is threatened in both sets of ways, and more.
Pennsylvania State University
Honey yields in the U.S. have been declining since the 1990s, with honey producers and scientists unsure why, but a new study by Penn State researchers has uncovered clues in the mystery of the missing honey.
Using five decades of data from across the U.S., the researchers analyzed the potential factors and mechanisms that might be affecting the number of flowers growing in different regions—and, by extension, the amount of honey produced by honey bees.
The study, recently published in the journal Environmental Research Letters, found that changes in honey yields over time were connected to herbicide application and land use, such as fewer land conservation programs that support pollinators. Annual weather anomalies also contributed to changes in yields. […]
Overall, researchers found that climate conditions and soil productivity—the ability of soil to support crops based on its physical, chemical and biological properties—were some of the most important factors in estimating honey yields. States in both warm and cool regions produced higher honey yields when they had productive soils.
Putting biochar into soils has multiple benefits, in addition to sequestering carbon. It holds air when dry and water when wet, to begin with, greatly reducing erosion and toxic runoff, and supporting more vigorous and healthy plant growth.
Renewable Friday: Our Land Can Save Us—Partly
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