Since 2016, she runs a rotational grazing operation with some pigs, cows and 100 sheep, which she sells for meat at year's end. She also grew up in the 1980s, during the farm crisis, and swore she'd only go back into agriculture on her own terms. So she empathizes with the farmers who - pinched between markets and rising costs - work to hew corn and soybean fields every year. "The culture is shifting."īernhardt grew up on a row-crop farm in southern Minnesota. "Five years ago, you wouldn't hardly mention that word," Fixen said. Leif Fixen, a soil health manager at the Nature Conservancy, said he recently attended an agricultural convention and spotted vendors discussing greenhouse gas emissions. Agriculture, along with transportation, has found itself at the center of this conversation. Some scientists have suggested the hotter spells in summer can be tied to warming of the planet due to human activity. "When they're young, they've got trouble regulating temperature," she said. In farm country, caretakers are working to keep the cows, pigs and even sheep, if not cool, at least comfortable in the midsummer heatwave.Įarlier this year, the rapid transition from snow in late April to a heatwave in May found Bernhardt dunking newborn lambs into water to keep them cool. The European Union's climate monitor has declared July on pace to be the warmest month in human history. "But I brought them here instead."Īcross Minnesota on Wednesday and Thursday, the mercury flirted with 100 degrees - as 30% of the state faces severe drought. "I was supposed to be on that hillside," she said, wiping her brow. "This is perfect for them," Bernhardt said.ĭays earlier, she'd moved the flock to the paddock in the woods in preparation for the scorching weather. But the orange sun rising over the pines signaled the high could spike to 90 degrees, maybe higher. The sheep lazed in the cooling shade of a birch stand on Hannah Bernhardt's farm, like seals lounging on seaside rocks.
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