Crops
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The Southeast Farm Press posted a retrospective story this week on the 2018 weather impacts on the Tobacco Belt. Intense heat early in the season was followed by heavy rains. Hurricane Florence destroyed a lot of the tops of the tobacco plants with strong winds and heavy rain, the most valuable part of the crop.…
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Agricultural producers in the Southeast are always looking for new crops to supplement or replace older crops that are not providing good returns. One of the newest crops to be discussed is industrial hemp (not to be confused with medicinal hemp, or marijuana). Hemp was grown frequently in the past and has a number of…
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The Guardian posted an interesting story this week about how Florida farmers are adapting to the impacts of Hurricane Michael by changing the types of crops they grow and how they manage their fields. They are starting to move towards less traditional crops like cotton and introducing new crops like hops and hemp. You can…
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Southeast Farm Press reported this week that the North Carolina agricultural commissioner is urging farmers to look into new crops to help diversify themselves in case of bad weather or market unrest. Some of the crops include carrots for natural coloring, poplar for veneer and industrial hemp. You can read more at https://www.farmprogress.com/crops/nc-ag-commissioner-urges-farmers-take-serious-look-new-crops.
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If you don’t know much about Iran, you might think it is a desert country. And there are certainly very dry areas in the large country, but there is also a lot of agriculture there, with production of both crops and livestock. But in recent years, severe drought has taken a terrible toll on agricultural…
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AgWeb posted an interesting story this week about the increase in the use of drought-tolerant hybrids of corn in recent years. The first seeds with drought tolerance were made available in 2011 and the percent of corn acreage planted with the new hybrids has grown to over 20% since then. I expect to see this…
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The Southeast Farm Press reported this week that drier conditions in January have allowed cotton fields to dry off, allowing the resumption of cotton harvest. In early January 10-15 percent of the crop was still in the field, but by the end of the month just 5-10 percent of the crop was still left to…