Farmers’ Almanac Predicts Harsh Winter

Aug 25, 2014

With memories of last year’s winter still frozen in people’s minds, the folks over at Farmers’ Almanac are predicting that the upcoming winter of 2014 / 2015 will be one to remember as well. The latest issue of the nearly 200-year-old publication, which goes on sale this week, is forecasting colder and wetter-than-usual weather conditions for the two-thirds of the United States east of the Rocky Mountains.

While the North Eastern parts of the country, including the Midwest and Great Lakes region are expected to get blasted with snow and frigid temperatures, California and other areas of the Pacific Northwest will receive normal levels of precipitation and cool temperatures this winter. Last year, the historic publication was highly accurate with their forecast of an extreme winter, while national forecasters made a mess with their often inaccurate predictions.

The Farmers’ Almanac uses a unique and mostly-secret formula to create its weather predictions, which include factors such as moon cycles, sun spots and other celestial observations. While their methods are not generally supported by the modern-day scientific community, farmers have long-used this information for planning plantings and harvests.

After failing to predict the weather with any great accuracy last winter, forecasts using modern scientific methods are suggesting that we could be seeing a return of the dreaded “Polar Vortex” as early as September this year – which would cause havoc for farmers in the North East and Great Lakes regions. With a late start to planting in the spring of 2014, farmers need the extra time this fall to get their crops to full maturity, and a drastic drop in temperature could result in severe frost damage to crops over a large area.

Video: Evolution of Beef Cattle Farming

The Clear Conversations podcast took to the road for a special episode recorded in Nashville during CattleCon, bringing listeners straight into the heart of the cattle industry. Host Tracy Sellers welcomed rancher Steve Wooten of Beatty Canyon Ranch in Colorado for a wide-ranging discussion that blended family history and sustainability, particularly as it relates to the future of beef production.

Sustainability emerged as a central theme of the conversation, a word that Wooten acknowledges can mean very different things depending on who you ask. For him, sustainability starts with the soil. Healthy soil produces healthy grass, which supports efficient cattle capable of producing year after year with minimal external inputs. It’s an approach that equally considers vegetation, animal efficiency, and long-term profitability.

That philosophy aligned naturally with Wooten’s involvement in the U.S. Roundtable for Sustainable Beef, where he served as a representative for the Colorado Cattlemen’s Association. The roundtable brings together the entire beef supply chain—from producers to retailers—along with universities, NGOs, and allied industries. Its goal is not regulation, Wooten emphasized, but collaboration, shared learning, and continuous improvement.