4-10 FB Mexican Drought

 Last year Mexico’s Border States received their lowest rainfall since 1941, the first year rainfall was officially recorded. Impact of the drought on Mexico’s dry bean-growing states was devastating. Harvests yielded not only insufficient beans to feed the country’s population, but produced no seed to plant for the next cropping season. Historically, Mexico growers save seed from previous crops for replanting, but the practice of “saving” seed promotes disease and severely limits yields. Diana Caldwell of the Idaho Bean Commission discusses the impact of the drought  on Idaho bean seed producers: “They have been hit by an extremely severe drought in this last year, in 2011, and they  do not have enough beans to feed their population let alone to plant in the coming season for their crops.” Climate scientists are saying they like the term climate change over global warming.