((PKG))  FRAMING SALINITY   
((Banner:  Adapting to the Sea))
((Reporter/Camera:  Steve Baragona))

((Adapted by:  Martin Secrest))
((Map: Dorchester County, Maryland))

((Banner: As sea levels rise, farmland on Maryland’s Eastern Shore is being overrun by salt water))

((Bob Fitzgerald, Farmer))

All this, you can see where I planted this with soybeans, and they just died. I can show you big swaths of land that 25, 30 years ago were being farmed and now they’re just marsh.

((Kate Tully, Professor of Agroecology, University of Maryland))
So, all along the Eastern Seaboard, sea level rise rates are increasing. They’re about two to three times the global average here. And so, with sea level rise comes salt water intrusion which is the landward movement of sea salts. And when that happens, you start to see plants that are not adapted to salt, dying off. The tides are rising higher and higher and you actually start to get that salt water basically dumping onto the fields or coming up through the groundwater. And you just get these swaths of big portions of the field that are super, super salty, way saltier than corn can handle, soy or wheat, and the plants die. Some farmers will try to switch crops, so actually sorghum, which we see here, is a crop that does very well, as you can see, in saline environments. So, we are looking at alternative crops. So, they might try to switch or adapt.

((NATS))

((Bob Fitzgerald, Farmer))

When they grew up, they didn’t die immediately upon emergence, but later on, the salt got to them and they died. You can see the skinny little soy bean that he just got beat back. The problem on the Eastern Shore also is if you dig a ditch, you’re subject to let in as much salt water as you let out fresh water. Because, while you want fresh water to go out so it doesn’t drown out your crop, the salt water’s right there waiting to come in when the tide gets high. If the tide’s up when you have a big flood of rain, the rain is not going to run off until the tide goes down. And if you have a mixture of salt water in here, that’s just going to hold it, you know, hold the whole mess.

((NATS))

((Bob Fitzgerald, Farmer))

Basically, this all I’ve lost on this farm, which is enough on this farm. Another farm down the road that basically they gave up farming, and the guy who is quite well off and is a hunter, he bought the whole farm. And he’s put berms around, and pumping in fresh water, so he has a wildlife refuge and a place to hunt.

((NATS))