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The Murray needs a miracle. Or a whole new approach. Southeastern Australia's wine growing regions are facing their toughest water challenge in over a century and nobody's quite sure what to do. The region's worst drought in 117 years has dried up the streams, the lakes, the aquifers. The Murray River, which flows down from the north, once accounted for 10 percent of the water supply for the city of Adelaide's one million people. Because everything else has dried up, the people of Adelaide now count on the Murray for 90 percent of their water.

It's a tale of drought, climate change and decades of overuse. Not only is the Murray greatly reduced in volume, the water in it is turning salty. And some environmentalists Down Under are thinking about about letting freshwater wetlands turn into salty estuaries, like the Chesapeake Bay.

In our continuing efforts to keep you up-to-date on Icelandic agriculture, at times we may divert from the seriousness of our task to the light-hearted, or even downright frivolous, report. Today, we have unleashed the clown within to bring you this report on exactly what it is that makes an Icelandic farmer an Icelandic farmer. We would have loved to bring you a firsthand, person-to-person account of just how funny the average Icelandic farmer finds this list, but due to unfortunate travel budget restrictions, we can only offer up this Google-gleaned account:

You might be a dairy farmer in Iceland:

Last week, Masaru Yamada visited Lancaster County farms, this week he's in New York, then it's on to Detroit and Chicago. Yamada is a senior writer with Japan Agricultural News, a daily newspaper with some 360,000 readers.  One would think his readers have enough time to read a daily farm paper since the average farm size is just six acres. (That's probably not a fair statement, especially coming from me, since my only crop is about half-an-acre of plantain, clover, dandelion, some kind of creeping stuff and a little bit of grass - aka my lawn - and sometimes I don't get around to cutting it as often as I should. But still...six acres.)
I think if I were an actual farmer and I could make a living off six acres and maybe a little part-time job - like blogging for a farm newspaper - I'd be having the time of my life.  Another dream job would be working for a huge farm daily and getting assignments to travel around the world and see how other people are doing things. 

Or how about working for a nice-sized farming weekly and traveling the world to see how other folks are doing things? I hear there are a lot of interesting things going on in Iceland this time of year, for example.

Boss? I hear there are a lot of interesting things going on in Iceland this time of year.  You know, like lambs and beef and dairy cows...stuff like that.  It's a small country, low travel expenses...

I could camp out.

I think those cows in the picture need to be investigated.

Louie

I didn't know I was going to get an editorial consultant when we picked Louie up in Connecticut about a month ago. He was four months old on Saturday, and he's really developed a taste for newspapers.  Mostly he eats them. You might say he devours the news, and on Sundays he's got his work cut out for him. That's the day we read the local paper, the New York Times on occasion, and, of course, the latest edition of Lancaster Farming.

Yesterday, I went for my second or third cup of coffee, absent-mindedly put my paper on the floor and when I came back there was Louie, actually looking at it. You know, cock the head this way, then that way, then wonder why all the words are upside down.

But, at least, not eating it. I took it as a sign of respect.

Maybe he knows how I pay for his puppy food.

Niche marketing kept a 75-year family farm tradition alive for Layne and Beth Klein of Easton, Pa. When their 70-cow herd fell victim to tumbling milk prices in January, 2003, the Kleins held on to their farm, which had been in the family since 1934, by selling the herd. They kept a few replacement heifers. When the heifers started milking, the Kleins became cheesemakers. They now have a farm store, a westore, and sell 20 varieties of cheese.  They also sell raw milk, eggs, their own beef, yogurt and other products out of their farm store. Lancaster Farming alum Lou Ann Good,  now a correspondent, reports on the Kleins' turnaround in the May Eastern Dairy Reporter, part of your current edition.

I did this when I was a kid. But it's less scary when they just roll you into the creek. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WYQn9nl07M4

Cornbelt planters have seen a lot of shed time so far this season, but you can bet farmers in the eastern cornbelt will be burning a lot of diesel next week.  At least if the weather forecast for the next 10 days or so holds up. Daily forecasts for St. Louis and nearby areas is sunny-times-10, banishing clouds from both the skies and the minds of thousands of guys who just want to get out in the field and work.

Yesterday, the Kansas City Star reported that planting activity has hardly gotten out of the starting gate in many part of the cornbelt.  Illinois, for example, had just 10 percent of the seed in the ground, compared to the usual 80 percent this time of year. Indiana had 11 percent instead of the usual 70 percent. Missouri and Ohio were way behind, too, but farmers in Iowa and Minnesota have had a near perfect planting season.

The Chesapeake Bay has a new friend in Washington. And he's the head guy. President Obama is trying to do a lot of different things in a lot of different areas and nobody knows how any of it's going to work out. The economy, the war(s), health care, the environment, food safety... He picked up a big basket on inauguration day, filled it to the top and I, for one, hope he can carry it home.

And I would say that regardless of his party affiliation. Like most Americans, I think the person at the top is more important than the party in power.

This person in power believes the Chesapeake Bay is a national treasure, and thinks it's time to get it cleaned up. The six states and the District of Columbia, which comprise the bay's watershed, have been cooperating on remedial work to keep pollutants out of the bay for years. Decades, actually. That work has definitely helped, but it hasn't solved the bay's many problems.