Climate and Agriculture in the Southeast

Freezing weather Wednesday morning could end the growing season in most of Georgia

Nov 11, 2019 | Written by Pam Knox

A blast of Arctic air is expected to move into Georgia on Tuesday, November 11, bringing rain and gusty winds through the state over the day. Once the cold front passes, frigid air is expected to drop temperatures below freezing in most of the state except the far southern counties…
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AJC: Water war shifts to southwest Georgia as Florida takes aim at farmers

Nov 6, 2019 | Written by Pam Knox

If you haven’t been paying attention, you should know that Georgia is in a Supreme Court battle with Florida (and to a lesser extent Alabama) over how water passing through Georgia from the northeast mountains through Atlanta and down into the fertile southwestern part of the state before heading south…
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Research looks at how cloud cover affects corn growth

Oct 30, 2019 | Written by Pam Knox

While temperature and related growing degree days help control how fast corn and other crops develop, it’s less well known that solar radiation also has an effect. If it’s warm but cloudy, the corn growth will be slower than if skies are sunny. This is one reason that we are…
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California wildfires put agriculture at risk

Oct 30, 2019 | Written by Pam Knox

You’ve probably heard about the massive forest fires that are spreading through parts of California, and you might have even seen some of the images of smoke and flames associated with the fires. But while the fires are affecting the forests in the area, they are also causing problems for…
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US corn yields get boost from a global warming ‘hole’

Oct 27, 2019 | Written by Pam Knox

Physics Today reported this week that due to the warming hole which is seen in the central US, corn yields there are higher than they would be if that area had warmed as much as the rest of the United States. The cooler temperatures improved corn’s performance there. One thing…
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Georgia pumpkins like cooler weather

Oct 23, 2019 | Written by Pam Knox

Even though Georgia is not one of the top ten pumpkin producing states, we still have about 900 acres in pumpkin production each year. I was interested to read this article in Morning Ag Clips describing pumpkin production in the state. I learned that most pumpkins are grown in the…
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Alabama Producers Harvest Crops Despite Widespread Drought

Oct 22, 2019 | Written by Pam Knox

Many farmers in the region have been negatively affected by the dry conditions that were growing across the Southeast until the recent rainfall. In spite of that, they were hard at work trying to harvest crops. In some cases, the dry weather even helped them accomplish their harvest more quickly….
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