Crops
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Shane Curry, the author of the Appling County Crop E News, had an interesting article this week about the unfilled ears of corn they are seeing in some locations as they harvest their fields. It discusses the problems caused by high temperatures and low humidity associated with dry conditions that affected the corn plants this…
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In the last month there have been several stories about bumblebees, a major pollinator, in the media. Here are a couple of the stories. Science Magazine reported on a story about the aerodynamics of bumblebees carrying pollen compared to nectar. Researchers studied the stability in flight of bees carrying nectar, which is held close to…
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The Atlanta Journal-Constitution had a long and detailed article in yesterday’s paper on Georgia’s agriculture, including the variety of crops grown and changes that are expected in the coming years due to market demands, water shortages in California and elsewhere, and changes in recent climate. You can read the article at https://specialprojects.myajc.com/georgia-farm-change/.
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The latest NWS 30-day precipitation maps from https://water.weather.gov/precip show how wet California has been this year compared to normal. The two maps below show the departure from normal and the percent of normal since June 26, 2015. While the Southeast has been slightly below normal during that time period, California has received 1-2 inches of…
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Did you know that bananas are one of the biggest monocultures that exist in agriculture? Almost every banana we see in the grocery store is a clone of the Cavendish banana, which has disease resistance and good traveling qualities that make it profitable for banana farmers. But now a new disease called “Fusarium Oxysporum Tropical Race…
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Bloomberg Businessweek had an interesting article last week on the rapid depletion of the Ogallala Aquifer, a huge underground water source that feeds agricultural irrigation in most of the central Plains. The aquifer is being rapidly depleted by overuse in many places, leading farmers to consider the need to switch from corn to less water…
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The National Wildlife Foundation recently released a new report on the importance of soil quality in producing sustainable agriculture. The report is entitled Can Soil Save Us? Making the Case for Cover Crops as Extreme Weather Risk Management. In the report it details the impacts healthy soil can have on reducing the effects of extreme weather,…