{"id":85934,"date":"2024-09-07T04:55:00","date_gmt":"2024-09-07T08:55:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/insideclimatenews.org\/?p=85934"},"modified":"2024-09-06T18:58:32","modified_gmt":"2024-09-06T22:58:32","slug":"mississippi-river-delta-california-agriculture-climate-threats","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/insideclimatenews.org\/news\/07092024\/mississippi-river-delta-california-agriculture-climate-threats\/","title":{"rendered":"As Climate Threats to Agriculture Mount, Could the Mississippi River Delta Be the Next California?"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

This story was originally published by The Tennessee Lookout<\/a>. <\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n

A smorgasbord of bright red tomatoes and vibrant vegetables line the walls of Michael Katrutsa\u2019s produce shop in rural Camden, Tennessee. What began a decade ago as a roadside farm stand is now an air-conditioned outbuilding packed with crates of watermelon, cantaloupe and his locally renowned sweet corn \u2014 all picked fresh by a handful of local employees each morning.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The roughly 20-acre farm west of the Tennessee River sells about half of its produce through his shop, with the rest going to the wholesale market.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Farms like Katrutsa\u2019s make up just a sliver of roughly 10.7 million acres of Tennessee farmland largely dominated by hay, soybeans, corn and cotton. Specialized machines help farmers harvest vast quantities of these commodity \u201crow crops,\u201d but Katrutsa said the startup cost was too steep for him. While specialty crops like produce are more labor-intensive, requiring near-constant attention from early July up until the first frost in October, Katrutsa said he takes pride in feeding his neighbors.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The World Wildlife Fund sees farms in the mid-Mississippi delta as ripe with opportunity to become a new mecca for commercial-scale American produce. California currently grows nearly three-quarters of the nation\u2019s fruits and nuts and more than a third of its vegetables. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

\n\t
\n\t\t
\n\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t

\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\tNewsletters\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/a>\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/h3>\n\t\t\t\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t

We deliver climate news to your inbox like nobody else. Every day or once a week, our original stories and digest of the web’s top headlines deliver the full story, for free.<\/p>\n\t\t\t\n\t\t\t\n\t\t\t\t

\n\n\t\t\t\t\t