Crops
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The Packer reported today that the Vidalia onion crop this year is looking very good. They report that “after early-season rain thinned some stands, recent near-ideal growing conditions have raised expectations for the start of the Vidalia onion season in April.” Good weather in March has helped speed the development of the crop and…
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The NWS office in Peachtree City announced today on their Facebook page that they will start producing their spring frost warnings for frost earlier than usual this year. The spring so far has been unusually warm and many plants, including fruit trees and other crops, have started blooming earlier than normal, making the vulnerable to…
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The warm weather this week has broken record high temperatures in many locations around the Southeast. This Southeast Regional Climate Center Perspectives map shows the stations with new records (ranked #1) across the region. Records were also broken on previous days. These warm temperatures are contributing to the well above normal temperatures for March as…
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Damon Jones of the Georgia Farm Bureau has a new video story on the peach crop that features Jeff Cook on crop development and me on chill hours. You can view it below or at https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xaP_LG0fH_w.
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Greenville Online reported this week that South Carolina’s peach crop could be the strongest in years, according to experts from Clemson. Even though they had less chill hours than usual this year due to the warm December across the eastern US, they still got enough to help develop a good crop. South Carolina produces the…
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A recent study published in Nature Climate Change shows that six of nine staple crops in sub-Saharan Africa are expected to be able to continue to be cultivated in a warmer climate. Three crops, however, maize, beans and bananas, will most likely no longer be viable in the new climate and will have to be…
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While we are enjoying beautiful weather across most of the Southeast this week, it’s always good to be aware of severe weather. The National Severe Storms Lab (NSSL) has some great resources on severe weather at their website https://www.nssl.noaa.gov/education/svrwx101/, including one on hail. For agriculture, hail does not even need to be large to cause big…