Gary Hawkins

  • Will your Lettuce take the Heat?

    In California, Dr. David Still is working to breed lettuce that will use less nitrogen and water.  He is trying to isolate the genes that leads to lettuce “bolting” when it gets hotter.  To read more about how he is working with lettuce in hot climates see the story in the Western Farm Press under…

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  • Water is considered to be a renewable resource that we do not have to really worry about.  This is mainly due to the Water Cycle where water is always in motion.  However, as we have experienced droughts over the years and increased impervious surfaces, stormwater has increased and the storage of these water resources has…

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  • Cover Crops seem to be making a Come Back

    The use of cover crops in agriculture is the base in conservation tillage or conservation production systems.  The use of cover crops has many different benefits ranging from aiding in increased infiltration, suppressing weeds, building soil health and reducing erosion.  In the “Weekly Roundup” of the Forester Newsletter there was an article dealing with cover crops…

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  • Cleaning Camden County

    Camden County has an Award Winning Program which is helping keep Coastal Georgia Clean.

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  • Weekly Water Fun Fact – Weight of Water

    Well how much does that gallon of water weigh?  Depending on the temperature (another fun fact to think about later) water weighs close to 8.32 pounds per gallon.  To be specific, at 77 degrees F, water weights 8.32 pounds per gallon and gets lighter as the temperature increases.  This is according to standard Density of…

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  • Conserving water in farming

    Susan Varlamoff highlights in a recent article in the Environmental News Blog post work being done with Variable Rate Irrigation (VRI) in Georgia.  To read her full story see the Environmental News Blog site.  In the article, there is also a YouTube video produced by the Flint River SWCD about how VRI is used.

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  • Water issues have 3 of the top 10 issues established by the California Fresh Fruit Association for 2016.

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  • Rainfall in Georgia

    As a fun fact of the week I have a question:  What is the Average Annual Rainfall for Georgia?   The Answer:  We get on average 50-52 inches of rain annually.  

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  • Where to Grow Food Outside California

    In Pam Knox’s latest post on the Climate and Agriculture in the Southeast blog, she references an article written in the New Republic on where will we grow food outside California.

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  • Fun Fact of the Week

    This week I was reading a book on Soil Physics and found a fun fact.   A single water molecule has a radius of 1.38 Angstrom at the center.  The oxygen and hydrogen in the water molecule are about 0.97 Angstroms and the hydrogens are about 1.54 Angstroms apart. An Angstrom is equal to 10^-15…

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