Anecdotal and I'd love to be wrong about this, buuuut I'm in the rural midwest rn and all of the wheat fields in like a 75 mile radius from me look like they're absolutely fucked.

It's basically all turned gold already which is super early for it, especially because it's still short as fuck, like maybe a foot tall — it's usually still green until it's like 4 feet tall. The people who've lived here for a long time have been talking about how abnormal it is. I'm not a wheat scientist and haven't really gotten into with anyone who knows what they're actually talking about so I don't totally know what it means, but I know it doesn't mean anything good

Prob a good idea to stock up on food if you've got the means

:doomer:

  • dat_math [they/them]
    ·
    2 years ago

    mass cattle die-offs

    This is the first I'm hearing about it. The fuck?

      • Coca_Cola_but_Commie [he/him]
        ·
        2 years ago

        That paper is fascinating. 1,000,000 cows died in 2010 from "respiratory problems". Looking at the table on page 10 "Percent of Total Calf Non-Predator Losses by Type – States and United States: 2010" and just looking at the column for respiratory problems is wild. In Nebraska and Colorado 40% of basically all cow deaths are due to respiratory problems. In Kansas it's 63%. There's clearly a trend there, though I'm too lazy and disinterested to figure out what that trend is, and to then analyze why that trend exists. Still interesting, though.

          • Coca_Cola_but_Commie [he/him]
            ·
            2 years ago

            Barely related, but your comment reminded me of this. I used to drive past a rendering plant a few times a year. Without question the worst thing I’ve ever smelled. I guess the smell was raw animal fat being melted down to tallow on an industrial scale. I remember it would fill the car. Cloying. Like the air had become too thin to breathe properly, but at the same time thick and heavy with this awful stench. Like a concentrated death-smell.

            I’ve also driven past feedlots, which smell awful, but for me they lack the nightmare quality of the rendering plant smell.