Climate and Ag in the news
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Pecans are one of the most valuable crops grown in the Southeast, and the impacts of Hurricane Irma hit pecan growers pretty hard this year, with about 30% of the nuts blown off the trees in the storm. Trees were also blown over or dropped limbs and may need to be replaced. Vegetable and Specialty…
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A recent article from Florida State University looks back at the 2017 hurricane season and discusses what, if anything, it can tell us about how a warmer climate in the future might affect the hurricanes that hit the Southeast. The short answer is that the number of hurricanes does not seem to be affected but…
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It’s well known that in a drought, trees near the tops of hills are more likely to die than trees farther down the hill. This is because water runs downhill, and whatever water is captured in the dry conditions is more likely to be stored in valleys. The water table also drops more steeply in…
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Winter is on the way across the US and will soon come to the Southeast too. Before the bad weather hits, be prepared for whatever might come your way. The National Weather Service has a great website with a lot of information on winter weather and how you can get ready for it at https://www.nws.noaa.gov/os/winter/. Now…
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Here is a new report on the state of water in Georgia from the Georgia Water Coalition. According to their release, the report highlights the history, economics, water demand trends, forecasts, and regulatory nature of irrigated agriculture in Georgia and also takes a look at irrigation in neighboring states. You can read it at https://www.gawater.org/watering-georgia-report.
Posted in: Climate and Ag in the news -
The latest estimates from the USDA regarding the orange harvest this year have dropped the expected yield by 7.4 percent, to 50 million boxes, from last month’s estimate. Producers generally considered last month’s estimates too high because all of the accumulated losses from Hurricane Irma have not yet been seen, much less quantified. Some delayed…
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How old can grapevines get and still produce a good crop? Atlas Obscura has a short but interesting story this week on a vine in England that has been producing sweet dessert grapes for over 250 years. When they were originally produced, only royalty could eat the fruit, but now it is available to the…