Climate and Ag in the news
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Because of the cold outbreak late in 2022 and the relatively wet weather this year, whitefly populations across the region have remained low, according to a recent article in Specialty Crop Industry by Clint Thompson. However, it is noted that if hot and dry conditions continue to occur, the populations could increase quickly. Whiteflies are…
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In spring 2016, northeastern Alabama and northwestern Georgia experienced a dry spell that was nearly a month long. It occurred right during the pollination stage for corn there. The lack of moisture led to spotty pollination because the silks were too dry to capture pollen. Some fields were total losses, and others had such poor…
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The Southeast has suffered from a number of severe weather events in the past few weeks, including a stormy night here in Athens GA in late July that dropped hundreds of trees and caused my neighborhood to lose power for 44 hours. Many people I know or read quoted in the news or online insisted…
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According to a recent article by Brad Haire in Southeast Farm Progress, Georgia’s peanut crop this year has been heavily affected by the impacts of the weather. Spring planting and germination was delayed by cool, wet weather, and so this year’s crop is running later than usual. The weather also appears to be affecting the…
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The skies across Georgia and other parts of the Southeast have been very hazy for the past couple of days due to smoke blowing south from the Canadian wildfires, although a lot of it is not reaching the surface but staying aloft. You can definitely see it in the gray skies, orange sun at sunset,…
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The Southeast Farm Press recently asked some cotton specialists around the Southeast about the current state of cotton in their states. All three specialists talked about the low accumulation of degree days this year due to the cold and cloudy weather and the difficulty getting into the wet fields to apply pesticides and other chemicals.…
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One story that I missed posting about earlier this summer is a new climatological study showing that the area where the most tornadoes occurs is shifting east from the traditional Tornado Alley in Oklahoma and the Southern Plains towards the Southeast. Scientists aren’t sure why this is occurring but link it to a movement of…