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Water is the lifeblood of agriculture, and availability of clean surface water is something valuable to agricultural producers as well as urban dwellers. AmericanRivers.org has published their 2017 list of the most endangered rivers in the US, including three in the Southeast. You can read more about what is threatening them in the report here.
Posted in: Climate and Ag in the news -
What can we expect for this year’s growing season based on past conditions and current climate predictions? Here is a quick look back and then a discussion of what we think is most likely to occur. In spite of the cold outbreak in mid-March across the Southeast, year-to-date temperatures are in the top five warmest…
Posted in: Climate outlooks -
The Vegetable and Specialty Crop News posted a pair of stories by Kelsey Fry today describing the different impacts of the mid-March freeze on blueberry production in Florida and in Georgia. While the Georgia crop was severely impacted by the cold temperatures, which got down to 22 F in some places, the Florida crop was largely…
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Growing Georgia produced an interesting video last month on a pecan producer whose farm was hit by a tornado and the aftermath on his trees and family. What would you do if you lost a good part of your crop in one bad weather event? You can view the video here.
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Have you ever heard the term “degree days?” Heating and cooling degree days are derived from temperature data and used to monitor the amount of energy that is needed for heating and cooling. So if you have a winter like this past one, with a much lower number of heating degree days than average, you…
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By all accounts, the recent rains that fell on California after years of drought triggered an explosion of color as plants that have been dormant for years have burst out in a blaze of flowers. You can see some pictures here at EarthSky. But even more amazing is the image I saw today which showed…
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Drovers Newsletter published a story this week on the use of prescribed fire to manage grazing land. They note that “when used correctly, fire can improve habitat for a variety of wildlife species, forage for cattle, and conditions for oak regeneration among other things.” But you need to consider a variety of factors carefully well…