Comment on How Northeast Mississippi farmers, scientists are adapting to rising temperatures

Zack Orsborn | Buy at photos.djournal.comWill Reed, owner of Native Sons Farming in Tupelo, digs out a carrot on his farm last week. By Zack Orsborn Daily Journal TUPELO – Seven years ago, Will Reed started Native Sons Farming in Tupelo after seeing the preventable health issues facing Mississippi while showing people the value of a small, organic farm. Before he started farming, he began looking at the environmental problems facing the world – increasing water vapor, atmospheric carbon dioxide concentration and methane – and it drove him “a bit mad.” He felt it’d be more environmentally sound to be closer to his food source as the average meal in the globalized food system travels 2,000 miles from farm to plate, which adds to the global carbon emissions. This year, Reed farmed in the hottest recorded year in history, according to NASA, causing him to adapt to rising temperatures, a historic drought and unpredictable weather. “Talking with some older people that have been growing produce for a long time, they say the weather is less predictable than it used to be,” Reed said.