Browse Drought Stories - Page 9

The University of Georgia College of Agricultural and Environmental Sciences has laid the framework for its annual turfgrass conference.

This April will mark the fifth anniversary of Georgia’s Community Collaborative Rain, Hail and Snow Network, part of a non-profit network of volunteer precipitation observers across the U.S. who provide daily rainfall information to the public.

Adapting to unpredictable weather is part of Lamar Black’s job as a farmer in Jenkins County, Ga. Black grows cotton, corn and peanuts on more than 400 acres, so each year he plans for and adjusts to extreme temperatures and rain, or lack thereof.

Fall and winter are the best times for Georgians to add new trees, shrubs and bushes to their landscapes.

Georgia experienced a much warmer than usual December. Temperatures were three to six degrees above normal across the state. Rainfall totals ranged from over eight inches in the northern regions of the state to less than an inch along the coast.

The current drought in Georgia has caused significant problems for farmers in central Georgia and other areas of the state, but a lack of impact on the state’s larger cities and drinking water supplies has kept it off most Georgians’ radar.

Agriculture uses about 70 percent of the world’s fresh water supply, but a growing population’s increasing demand for drinking water means farmers need to learn how to do more with less water.

Daniel Hillel, the 2012 World Food Prize Laureate and a 1950 graduate of the University of Georgia, spent the better part of his career perfecting arid- land farming methods in Israel and sharing them with farmers across the Middle East, Africa and parts of Asia. On Nov. 8, Hillel will return to Athens to deliver the College of Agricultural and Environmental Sciences’ 2012 D.W. Brooks Lecture at the Georgia Center for Continuing Education.

Georgia made it through September without much dramatic weather. Temperatures across the state were normal, but rainfall was light. The areas that received the most rainfall were affected by the remains of Hurricane Isaac in the first week of September.

August in Georgia was cooler than average across the state, but rainfall varied considerably from northwest to southeast. Generally the driest area was the metro Atlanta area, and the wettest areas stretched from south of Augusta and east towards the Georgia coast.