Browse Drought Stories - Page 6

To promote collaboration on some of the biggest challenges facing agriculture today, the University of Georgia College of Agricultural and Environmental Sciences is partnering with the University of Padova in Italy for a groundbreaking dual master’s degree program in sustainable agriculture.

From rice fields in western Africa to sheep pastures in Uruguay, students in the University of Georgia College of Agricultural and Environmental sciences travel the world each year to learn how to build a more food-secure future. CAES faculty, students and administrators gathered Tuesday to celebrate the college’s international mission and accomplishments at the sixth annual International Agriculture Day reception.

March was drier and warmer than normal across Georgia, ushering in projections for a warmer and wetter than normal spring.

Ann M. Steensland, deputy director for the Global Harvest Initiative, will deliver the keynote address at this year’s Sixth Annual International Agriculture Day reception. The event will be held from 3:30-5:30 p.m. on Tuesday, April 19, at the Georgia Museum of Art. Hosted by the University of Georgia College of Agricultural and Environmental Sciences Office of Global Programs, the talk and reception are free and open to the public.

Overly wet weather in Georgia’s major row crop regions during February 2016 has farmers worried that soggy soil may delay corn and peanut planting or cause fungal diseases to be a major issue later this spring.

After a record-setting warm December 2015, January 2016 in Georgia was slightly cooler and drier than normal. While El Niño conditions mean a continuation of slightly cooler-than-normal conditions in February, it should also mean a wetter-than-normal month.

2015 saw one of the warmest Decembers since Georgians started keeping records, and the month was also much wetter than normal. The warm, wet conditions created havoc for Georgia farmers.

November 2015 was one of the 10 wettest, warmest Novembers on record for Georgia. Some areas of the state received as much as 10 inches more rain than is normal, and temperatures were generally 3 to 7 degrees above normal.

In a time of public debate over the effectiveness and safety of genetically modified foods, it’s hard to picture the era before crop breeders developed grain varieties that could withstand drought and common diseases.

Despite Georgians’ constant umbrella use of late, most of September 2015 was actually drier than normal.