Browse Drought Stories - Page 5

With the summer heat and sporadic rainfall, conditions are right for farm ponds to become inundated with harmful algal blooms.

During long periods without rain, landscape plants and trees can suffer permanent damage. Supplying water slowly and gradually from below is the best way to help them survive, as this method has much less potential for evaporation than overhead irrigation.

Summer began in Georgia with warmer than normal temperatures throughout the state and shows no signs of relenting before fall.

With its shocking impact on babies and mothers, the Zika virus has gotten a lot of attention. However, some entomologists are looking at the current, abnormally dry weather and becoming concerned that another mosquito-borne illness could become a threat later this summer.

Abnormally dry conditions this summer have kept Georgia’s mosquito populations mercifully low, but that’s no reason for Georgians to let down their guard this season.

In May 2016, most of Georgia suffered from a lack of rainfall, while record-setting rain fell in Savannah, Georgia. Drought conditions expanded statewide, and severe drought returned to the northwest corner of Georgia by the end of last month.

The University of Georgia faculty and staff at the J. Phil Campbell Sr. Research and Education Center in Watkinsville will host the center’s annual corn boil and open house on June 28 from 10 a.m. to 1:30 p.m.

Cool conditions early in April delayed the growth of watermelon seedlings and caused yellowing of some corn plants. Wet fields in the southern half of the state delayed planting and caused problems for corn seedlings and other plants in heavy, wet soils.

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.