Browse Field Crops, Forage and Turfgrass Production Stories - Page 44

University of Georgia Extension water resource specialist Gary Hawkins is a devoted advocate of conservation tillage, but not for the typical reason. He appreciates its soil-building qualities, but what won his support is the water resources it saves.

A parasitoid wasp controls kudzu bug populations in its native Asia. University of Georgia entomologist Michael Toews hopes those wasps will one day reduce the kudzu bug’s presence in the United States.

University of Georgia Extension agents are often at the front lines when it comes to finding and defending crops from diseases and pests. Andrew Sawyer, an Extension agricultural and natural resources agent in Thomas County, made a timely discovery when he was the first to identify the presence of wheat rust in Georgia in 2013. His finding reduced yield losses on wheat, barley and rye.

University of Georgia peanut researchers have been granted $256,280 from the Georgia Peanut Commission to fund various peanut-related research projects in 2015.

Prolonged periods of rainfall this spring sidelined cotton farmers from planting their crop as planned for the week of April 28.

The changing climate is affecting trends in weather across the nation. As temperatures in the Southeast rise, farmers will have to adjust to longer growing seasons, more diseases and pests and to an increase in extreme weather conditions, says a University of Georgia expert.

Researchers in the University of Georgia College of Agricultural and Environmental Sciences are teaming up with IBM to work with farmers in Georgia’s Lower Flint River Basin to enhance water efficiency by up to 20 percent.

For decades, University of Georgia scientists have conducted state-of-the-art turfgrass research. Today’s researchers still work in the same labs where modern turfgrass science started in the 1950s. Those legacy labs and greenhouses will soon get much-needed renovations. Georgia’s FY015 budget includes $11.5 million for the improvement of the University of Georgia’s turfgrass teaching, research and Extension facilities across the state.

A new smartphone app developed by University of Georgia and University of Florida researchers will help cotton farmers in their states save one of nature’s most precious resources — water.

For Georgia corn producers, chances of an insect infestation in grain storage are much higher in late summer or early fall. A University of Georgia entomologist says keeping corn cool and dry is the key to keeping weevil away.