Sorghum, Cotton & Okra - Southern Crops Moving North Through Plains States As Warming Continues
LAWRENCE, Kan. — It's no longer as corny as Kansas in August. Now it's cotton, okra and sorghum. The hotter summers and more intense and frequent droughts in the Midwest are forcing farmers here to forgo the plants of their grandparents' generation and look down South for inspiration.
"We kept trying to grow sustainable tomatoes, but it was so hot that the plants got stressed and they wouldn’t produce fruit," said Courtney Skeeba, who started Homestead Ranch in the small town of Lecompton, Kan., about a decade ago. "By the end of the season, when it did get wetter and cooler, it was too late. So that’s when we started planting okra."
She's not the only one. It's the time of year when farmers look back at the summer and plan for planting ahead. And what they see is a lot of hot and a lot of dry. That's why okra, once a plant squarely rooted in Southern cooking, is headed north — way north. Farmers in Wisconsin are planting okra as well.
Cary Rivard, a fruit and vegetable specialist at the Kansas State Horticulture Research and Extension Center in Olathe, said some growers are producing 1,200 pounds of okra a week to sell at stores in Kansas City. "That's a lot of okra for veggie growers around here. And I can't imagine what it takes to pick it all," he said.
EDIT
http://america.aljazeera.com/articles/2013/12/23/okra-homa-as-temperaturesrisesoutherncropsmigratenorth.html
= new reply since forum marked as read
especially in regards to cotton. It takes 1/3 less water, has no pest or plant based enemies and has a far greater yield than cotton........
And really where the water savings is in the processing of cotton to make it soft and white enough for consumers.
