Serious crop losses expected in Europe

From Jeremy Lovell and Climate Wire in the Scientific American:

“LONDON — One of the driest spring seasons on record in northern Europe has sucked soils dry and sharply reduced river levels to the point that governments are starting to fear crop losses and France, in particular, is bracing for blackouts as its river-cooled nuclear power plants may be forced to shut down.

French Agriculture Minister Bruno Le Maire warned this week that the warmest and driest spring in half a century could slash wheat yields and might even push up world prices despite the U.N. Food and Agriculture Organization’s predicting a bumper global crop due to greater plantings.

France has pledged hundreds of millions of euros in aid to its drought-stricken livestock farmers, who have watched feed supplies dwindle and prices rise. Waterrestrictions are in place in more than half of the country’s administrative regions or departments.

“The situation is serious for French farmers. We wanted to act swiftly and on a large scale,” Le Maire told reporters last week.

And the French government has set up a committee to keep an eye on the country’s electricity supply situation and monitor river levels, as 44 of the 58 nuclear reactors that supply 80 percent of France’s electricity are cooled by river water.

The problem appears to be not that the reactors might overheat because of the lack of water but that the depleted rivers might overheat, creating ecological havoc, when the water returns to them after cooling the reactors….”

Read it all on The Scientific American.

1 Comment

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One response to “Serious crop losses expected in Europe

  1. And the arabs want to charge us top dollars for the barrel of oil. Make them pay the same for our wheat and corn. Only send them the GMO crops. Only kidding. send the GMO crops to the bad guys where ever they are. Monsanto and any other company that pushes their type of agenda. we do not want our children to grow up in the system that they manage. They know who they are. And we are Patriots. The Milkmen of America can help lead the way and carry the Flag.

    Thank you.

    The Raw Milk Milkman &
    Milkmen USA

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