Fruit
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Southeast Farm Press posted a story yesterday about some of the Southeastern crops that could be harmed by Hurricane Irma’s strong winds and rain. Among them are the pecan harvest, with trees that are heavily loaded and may have incurred a lot of damage from Irma’s high winds (similar to Matthew last year), citrus in…
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In spite of last year’s frost in mid-March, a lot of damage to the peach harvest in Georgia this year did not come from frost but from a lack of chill hours, since most locations in the peach areas of Georgia got much less than they really need for the trees to put out a…
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During the day TS Harvey became a hurricane and is expected to continue to strengthen during the next day. It has the potential to hit the Texas coast as a major hurricane with winds of 125 mph or higher. The wind will cause significant problems for coastal residents, but many more residents will be affected…
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One of the issues that this wetter weather has had on crops in the Southeast is an increase in fungal diseases of both leaves and roots. This article from Growing Produce shows the consequences of wet soils on young apple trees, which grow in cooler areas of the Southeast like the Appalachians although it is…
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I’ve been busy this week attending meetings of nut and fruit growers in Tifton and near Young Harris, GA. In Tifton I sat in on the annual meeting of the Northern Nut Growers Association and listened to talks on chestnuts, walnuts, and hazelnuts as well as olives, mulberries, persimmons, and other potential new crops for…
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Clint Thompson of the University of Georgia published a report this week on the impacts of heavy rain in June on watermelon production. According to the story, “Georgia farmers had fewer opportunities to effectively harvest watermelons in June thanks to an increase in rain, but disease pressure is what truly led to lower yields in…
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Here is a very interesting article about how the percentage of land in agriculture across the world has changed over time. If you look at the changes in cropland in the Southeast, you can see decreases in the coastal plains and increases in other areas. Not too surprising, since forested land is not considered to…