Draped across horizon-to-horizon skies, a developing cloud bubbles and rolls dragging a tail of rain now miles away. The smell of soaked soil floods the air as a cool breeze flutters across the field. These are the moments that defined my childhood.
Growing up in New Mexico, around a family of farmers and ranchers, rain was the currency of hope. I spent every season waiting on rain. Anything over a 10% chance was a “good chance” for moisture.
Precipitation in the arid corners of the country is always measured in hundredths. One good rain often resuscitated the evening sounds of frogs, could breathe life into brittle pastures and stamp puddles of possibility around the future.
RESPECT FOR RAIN
Since moving to northern Indiana, I’ve never lost that respect for rain. There are times when spring planting flounders under the weight of lingering moisture. Heavy downpours can flood and drown holes into otherwise perfect stands.
But you won’t find me at the co-op cursing the rain. I’ll admit, I’ve been close (once). Living in a climate and around an industry so reliant on temperamental torrents changes one’s perspective, apparently for life.
FORECAST THE FUTURE
In our July/August issue we dove into about weather modification — the practices and technologies being employed right now to impact local geographies. Here is our coverage:
Seeding The Sky: Can Scientists Manipulate The Weather To Benefit Agriculture?
Weather modification is the pursuit of technology or land management practices that ultimately alter, support or encourage a preferred atmospheric outcome. It can be done to improve or encourage rainfall; increase mountain snowpack; and suppress hail, lightning and flooding.
Greening the Desert: Dutch Researchers Work to Restore Sinai Peninsula
Dutch researchers think it’s possible to modify the weather in one of the driest regions in the world, the Sinai Peninsula, and restore a green, fertile plain by restarting the area’s water cycle.
USDA Scientists Testing New Cloud Seeding Technology
USDA scientists are testing new cloud seeding technology to help fight drought by unlocking more rain from clouds. The key ingredients are tap water and a small electrical charge.
Weather modification is being done in the U.S. and all over the world. While the ethics are worthy of lively debate, the technology should be studied, monitored and measured.
“Weather modification is on the brink of a mountain and we’re close to getting pushed to the top,” says Jonathan Jennings, meteorologist for the West Texas Weather Modification Association and 20-year practitioner of cloud seeding. “We’re also close to falling backward because there’s always been a massive PR issue.”
Water manipulation itself is nothing new. We’ve all seen field tile drain excess water, watched center pivots pump potential with irrigation and driven across reservoirs capturing mountain snowmelt.
Water is the tool that feeds the world. In agriculture, spend any time without it and you’ll discover its primal tug — a pull to the sky in search of nature’s next drink.
Do you have a question or comment about what you read in Farm Journal? Contact us at FJteam@farmjournal.com
Clinton Griffiths is a TV newsman, turned magazine editor, with a passion for good stories. He believes the best life lessons can be found down a dirt road.
