Fruit
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You may have seen some references to the extreme heat that has been hitting Australia in recent weeks. It has caused numerous health problems and resulted in the deaths of wild horses in the Outback where water holes have dried up. Here is a story about the impact of the heat on stone fruit like…
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The Tallahassee Democrat published an interesting opinion piece by an organic blueberry farmer thls week. It discusses recent weather impacts on his crops in the past few years and what it says about the trends in the climate. He also talks about what he is doing to respond to these trends. You can read it…
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One of the newer crops that is getting a lot of attention in Georgia is citrus. I’ve worked with several farmers who are looking into satsumas and other cold-hardy varieties to see how well they can do in our state. I was happy to hear from one of my farmers down near Bainbridge in SW…
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The UGA blog on Food, Agriculture and Resource Economics (FARE) posted an article on the estimated losses from Hurricane Michael yesterday. In brief, they found that “Our preliminary estimate shows that the current crop loss is $100 million and the tree loss is $260 million while the loss of future income is $200 million. Summing…
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Even though Hurricane Irma hit Florida more than a year ago, agriculture is still feeling impacts from that devastating storm. Vegetable Growers News reported today that in addition to the loss of citrus farms, a number of tomato producers have also decided to call it quits after their severe losses last year. You can read…
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This year has not been great for watermelon production in Florida. Some late frosts and unusual wet spells caused problems for producers and led to lower yields of good melons than usual. But the lower yields also led to higher prices, which added value to the watermelons that did make it through the season. You…
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As in Georgia, growers in Florida are exploring the potential for growing olives as a new specialty crop. There are already some groves planted and producing olives but this could expand in the future. WCJB has a video story about how production in the Southeast differs from production in California and other drier locations here.…