Increase in Extreme Weather Events Putting Growers to the Test
August 18, 2021 This year is off to a rough start when it comes to extreme weather. Climatologist are predicting a megadrought is underway in the West.
Let’s take a look at what growers said about floods and droughts over the past few years in our American Vegetable Grower State of the Vegetable Industry survey.
Three-Year Pattern Held Steady
The number of growers reporting droughts between 2018 and last year have held steady – — almost half of all growers. Those reporting floods actually went down in 2020.
(We began asking a more in-depth question about extreme weather three years ago, limiting our analysis to that time period.)
Regional Differences
We also took a look at how growers in different regions responded to the question this past year. Drought was a bigger issue than flooding.
Not surprisingly, less than a fifth of growers in the Western states reported issues with flooding. The Southeast had the most growers grappling with floods, with 39% of growers reporting at least one flood.
The Northeast and Southeast struggled the most with drought last year, with 64% and 67% reporting at least one drought, respectively.
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