Crops
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The “mistral” is a local wind which affects southern France. It is driven by the circulation around high pressure. The flow forces air down from high elevations towards the coast. As the air sinks, it clears and dries up, helping to provide cloudless days and low humidity that are great for growing grapes in the region. VinePair has a short…
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Calvin Perry, superintendent of the University of Georgia Stripling Irrigation Research Park, posted their monthly newsletter today. Besides showing many of the projects at the park, the newsletter also provides links to a number of stories about how recent wet and dry weather have affected crops like pecans and corn in the Southeast as well…
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Rome Ethredge of Seminole County posted some pictures of the wheat harvest that is beginning in southwest Georgia this morning on his blog (link). He pointed out that some of the crop has been affected by fusarium head blight, which reduces yields. Dewey Lee, the UGA Extension agronomist, says that he has seen fields with…
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Slate.com posted an article this week on the dire state of water in Arizona as Lake Mead set a new record low level. Because of the way water is allocated in the West, Arizona farmers are arguably worse off than California farmers in terms of how their water may have to be cut this…
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It’s been a very dry May across the Southeast so far. I was driving back to Athens from Quincy FL today and noted the large plumes of dust behind the tractors out planting in the fields in southwest Georgia. The radar-based precipitation map from the National Weather Service shows that many areas have received no…
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With the exception of flooding rains at a few locations in Nebraska, Oklahoma and Texas, most of the country was very dry this week. The dry conditions did allow planting of corn and other crops in the Midwest to advance significantly from last week. However, the dry conditions have caused problems for winter wheat, which…
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The Packer is running a story today on this year’s Vidalia onion harvest and the impacts of the recent rainy weather on the crop. In the story they describe conflicting reports on the state of the onion crop due to the weather. The USDA is reporting that recent rains “curtailed harvest” and contributed to some crop…