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When Drought in US California Threatens World Almond Supply

An increasingly severe drought in California, USA threatens the almond industry which is worth up to 6 billion dollars.

It is known, the state in the US produces 80 percent of almonds in the world.

Quoted from VOA Indonesia, Sunday (22/8/2021) almond production is expected to decline, after decades of developing the industry. That problem can lead to price increases.

As drought continues in California, the condition of almond trees, which are in desperate need of water in the state, is threatened.

Some farmers are forced to not irrigate their fields, because they cannot get or buy water – leaving the trees there to die.

Meanwhile, some other farmers do not plant fields so that the saved water is fully channeled to almonds.

Some farmers are also prepared to dismantle their gardens years earlier than planned, if the water situation does not improve.

That’s the situation of the almond field, 180 degrees changed from the nut’s expansion period in California’s Central Valley.

The Mediterranean’s dry climate and reliable irrigation systems make it the perfect location for growing almonds, a popular nut.

according to the US Department of Agriculture (USDA), almond production in California in 1995 grew from nearly 168 million kilograms, and reached a record 1.4 billion kilograms in 2020.

Almond Harvest in California Expected to Decline Due to Drought
Almonds are one of the major crops, and the largest agricultural export, of California.

Almond California exported abroad also reached 70 percent. There is a very high demand for almonds from India, East Asia and the European Union.

In May 2021, the USDA projected that almond harvests there would reach a record 1.5 billion kilograms this year.

But that projection was reduced to 1.3 billion kilograms by July 2021, citing low water availability and record heat.

Jim Jasper, is the owner of Stewart & Jasper Orchards, the company his father formed in 1948 in Newman, California.

Each year, permainan togel online terbaik Stewart & Jasper Orchards process approximately 27 million kilograms of almonds produced from more than 80 square kilometers of orchards, including about eight square kilometers of its own gardens.

Some of his neighbors have stopped irrigating their almond groves.

“We’re going to see the number of almonds from California going down a bit. The world is going to start experiencing a decline in almonds,” Jasper said.

California Water Impact Network board member Tom Stokely said the state should ban water-hungry crops, such as almonds, in areas that lack adequate water supplies.

“With climate change, drought and heat waves, things are going to change very quickly or we’re going to see the state collapse. We need to do something about it,” Stokely added.

Gold Prices Are Predicted To Continue To Drop Until Next Month

Gold prices edged up on Tuesday, snapping a sharp sell-off amid lingering doubts over the economic impact of the new Delta COVID-19 variant, although a rally in the US dollar and bond yields continues to grip the market.

Quoted from CNBC, Wednesday (11/8/2021), the price of gold in the spot market rose 0.1 percent to USD 1,730.93 per ounce at 1:37 pm. EDT. While the price of US gold futures closed up 0.3 percent at USD 1,731.70.

The precious metal fell as much as 4.4 percent on Monday, as expectations the US Federal Reserve could start easing its economic support sooner than previously anticipated were reinforced by Friday’s strong US jobs report.

Although the metal has recovered somewhat from Monday’s lows, it remains pressured by the strengthening US dollar and 10-year Treasury yields on the back of the Fed’s tapering bets.

“Gold prices are going to be under pressure in the next few months,” said Bart Melek, head of commodity strategy at TD Securities, noting that continued gains in real yields along with expectations of the Fed’s tapering will weigh on gold. Higher returns on Treasury bonds increase the opportunity cost of holding gold, which pays no interest.

“Market expectations are that economic data will continue to recover in a very strong clip reminiscent of employment data, but Delta variant concerns could certainly prevent the Fed from wanting to ease sooner rather than later,” Melek added.

Delta Variant Covid-19 Cases

Cases of the Delta variant of the corona virus in several Asian countries and the United States continue to soar, threatening the economic outlook

In other agen judi togel online terpercaya precious metals, platinum rose 1.8 percent to $997.84 an ounce and palladium rose 1.9 percent to $2,650.25.

“Platinum and palladium are driven in large part by their supply and demand dynamics,” said Suki Cooper, analyst at Standard Chartered.

“While we expect the third quarter to present the least stringent fundamentals, the platinum family of palladium metals is more vulnerable to downside risks in the near term,” he concluded.

LinkedIn Allows Employees to Work From Home Fully or Hybrid Working

LinkedIn will allow employees to work from home (remote) completely or hybrid working (work at home and in the office), along with plans to reopen offices.

LinkedIn’s Chief People Officer, Teuila Hanson, said: “This policy is shifting from the original schedule, where the company planned that employees would work from the office 50 percent of their working time, when restrictions on the Covid-19 pandemic were lifted.

Quoting Reuters on Saturday (31/7/2021), this updated policy offers flexibility for employees to work completely remotely or work in a part-time office. This option applies to global LinkedIn employees now numbering more than 16,000 people.

“We anticipate it is likely we will see more employees working remotely than before the pandemic. However, some work will have to be done in the office,” Hanson told Reuters.

Hanson said that currently LinkedIn does not require employees who have been vaccinated to return to work in the office.

LinkedIn’s Director of Corporate Communications, Greg Snapper, said employees who move locations will also get paid adjustments based on the local country where they work.

Other Technology Company Office
The tech industry was the first to allow employees to work from home when the pandemic hit the US last year.

Now, these technology companies are also implementing different policies, some are allowing employees to work full-time from home/remotely and some are implementing hybrid work methods.

Previously, Facebook and Google required their employees to get vaccinated against Covid-19 before returning to work in the office.

Meanwhile, Twitter has closed its recently opened office again, due to the increasing number of Covid-19 cases in the US.

On the other hand, Apple will require employees to work three days in the office a week, starting in October 2021. Google wants at least 60 percent of its employees to work in the office.

Google Requires Employee Vaccination
Google headquarters in the Googleplex, Mountain View, Palo Alto, California. Liputan6.com/Jeko Iqbal Reza
Previously, permainan togel colok bebas Google and Facebook would require their employees to be vaccinated against Covid-19 before returning to work from the office. Alphabet (Google) CEO Sundar Pichai announced this requirement in a letter to his employees.

“The vaccination requirements for Google employees will take effect in the next few weeks, for those in US offices,” Google said in a letter seen by The New York Times.

The announcement marks Google as one of the tech giants that requires employees to be vaccinated before entering the office.

The news is part of a wave of vaccination requirements pushed by US President Joe Biden’s administration.

Biden is reportedly set to announce requirements for government workers to be vaccinated against Covid-19.

Nobel Prize-winning physicist Steven Weinberg dies at 88

Physicist Steven Weinberg, who won the Nobel prize in 1979 along with two other scientists for their separate contributions to unlocking the mysteries of tiny particles and their electromagnetic interactions, has died at the age of 88, the University of Texas at Austin said Saturday, July 24, 2021.

Weinberg, who was a professor at the university since the 1980s, died on Friday July 23 in Austin, Texas.

Quoted from the AP page, Tuesday (27/7/2021), the famous physicist has been hospitalized for several weeks.

However, the cause of death was not disclosed.

“The death of Steven Weinberg is a loss for The University of Texas and the community,” UT President Jay Hartzell said in a statement.

“Professor Weinberg unlocked the mysteries of the universe for millions of people, enriching the human concept of nature and our relationship to the world,” Hartzell added.

In 1979, Weinberg shared the Nobel prize in physics with scientists Abdus Salam and Sheldon Lee Glashow.

Their work improves understanding of how everything in the universe is related, according to a UT statement.

The work helps physicists unify two of the four forces of nature, the subatomic forces known as nuclear forces, said Sean Carroll, a theoretical physicist at the California Institute of Technology.

“It’s all about understanding the laws of nature in depth. We are curious creatures and we want to know how the universe around us works,” says Carroll.

Weinberg’s work builds on that of Albert Einstein, according to Columbia University string theory physicist Brian Greene.

“The idea is that all the forces of nature might actually be the same force. It was a dream that Einstein had, that everything might be whole,” Greene said.

“He pushed this idea forward. He pushed this idea forward by showing (the two forces) are the same power.”

Weinberg’s Career Traces

Weinberg, Salam and Glashow — working separately — and were awarded “for their contributions tips memilih bandar togel terpercaya to the unified theory of weak and electromagnetic interactions between elementary particles, including the prediction of weak neutral currents,” according to the Nobel Prize website.

A native of New York, Weinberg was a researcher at Columbia University and the University of California, Berkeley, early in his career.

He then served on the faculty of Harvard University and the Massachusetts Institute of Technology before joining the UT faculty in 1982, teaching physics and astronomy.

Weinberg is survived by a wife and a daughter.

Online Meeting Not Smooth, Check Internet Upload Speed

Online meetings are common in today's working or studying from home conditions. When you have an expensive internet subscription but it turns out it's still slow or lags during a meet, it could be that the culprit is the upload speed.

"It should be noted that Indonesia usually gives internet access, there is no balance between downloading and uploading," said IT and gadget observer Lucky Sebastian in the Viral program at detikcom.

Lucky explained in an online meeting that when we see or listen to other people, the download speed is used. But when we bring up our videos or talk, what matters is the upload speed.

"Indonesia's average upload is only 1/10. So if you subscribe to 10 Mbps, the upload is 1 Mbps. Now this is cara untung main togel what for Zoom meetings it takes a minimum of 1.5 Mbps, so this is not smooth. The average provider includes mobile phones too if we benchmark the upload is lower, "explained Lucky.

Therefore, Lucky asks consumers to pay attention to this upload speed, especially if they often conduct online meetings. Especially if you are a content creator who will often upload videos to social media like YouTube. "If we talk about video calls like this, then we learn whether to use Zoom or Google Meet, pay attention to the upload. The upload must also be high," he explained.