crop-weather State Georgia Crop Weather Week Ending Date May 7, 2006 Issue GA-CW1806 Agricultural Summary May 7, 2006 LIGHT WEEKEND RAIN IMPROVES DRY CONDITIONS While many farmers still need rain, weekend showers brought slight relief for drought conditions, according to the USDA, NASS, Georgia Field Office. Stations reporting measurable precipitation recorded averages of 0.22 inches on Friday and 0.61 inches on Sunday. The state experienced highs in the low 80's and lows in the mid 50's. Soil moisture conditions were rated 8 percent very short, 34 percent short, 53 percent adequate, and 5 percent surplus. Light weekend rain improved soil moisture, but crops, hayfields, and pastures are beginning to suffer drought stress. Livestock producers continued supplemental feeding. Pastures have been grazed down and more rain will be needed to improve grazing conditions. Some producers began to cut hay, but reported a weak first cutting. Corn planting is complete, but newly planted corn is also in desperate need of a good shower. Lack of rain has tightened the planting window for cotton and peanuts. Some producers planted early to take advantage of early soil moisture and were ahead of schedule for peanuts. Others have paused spring planting in hopes of receiving more rain. An agent in east central Georgia predicted an early wheat harvest because the crop has begun to turn. Commercial vegetables were being harvested in the southern part of the state. County Extension Agents reported an average of 5.5 days suitable for fieldwork. CROP PROGRESS May 7, Prev Prev 5 Year 2006 Week Year Avg Corn, Planted 96 94 93 96 Corn, Emerged 88 80 86 91 Soybeans, Planted 11 5 8 12 Soybeans, Emerged 4 0 2 5 Sorghum, Planted 20 15 24 23 Cotton, Planted 41 24 18 31 Wheat, Headed 93 86 93 94 Onions, Harvested 45 28 23 38 Peaches, Harvested 0 0 0 0 Peanuts, Planted 13 5 8 15 Watermelons, Planted 94 89 92 94 CROP CONDITION May 7, 2006 Crop Very Poor Poor Fair Good Excellent --Percentages-- Corn 0 2 32 61 5 Sorghum 0 1 56 43 0 Cotton 1 6 45 47 1 Wheat 2 9 33 48 8 Pasture 4 14 40 38 4 Apples 0 4 19 54 23 Hay 3 12 41 41 3 Onions 3 8 28 50 11 Peaches 0 5 15 80 0 Tobacco 0 3 45 50 2 Watermelons 0 2 32 61 5 PASTURE CONDITION - DISTRICT* LEVEL May 7, 2006 Very Poor Poor Fair Good Excellent --Percentages-- Dist 1(NW) 0 13 48 34 5 Dist 2(NC) 0 3 39 56 2 Dist 3(NE) 0 4 43 51 2 Dist 4(WC) 3 16 35 43 3 Dist 5(C) 3 8 48 35 6 Dist 6(EC) 0 2 42 46 10 Dist 7(SW) 17 29 32 20 2 Dist 8(SC) 5 31 38 26 0 Dist 9(SE) 1 12 41 46 0 *A list of the counties in each of the nine Georgia Agricultural Statistics Districts is available at http://www.nass.usda.gov/ga/ctyests/districts.pdf. Soil Moisture Table May 7, 2006 Prev Year 5 Year Avg --Percentages-- Very Short 8 0 10 Short 34 10 29 Adequate 53 76 51 Surplus 5 14 10 SOIL MOISTURE - DISTRICT* LEVEL May 7, 2006 Very Short Short Adequate Surplus --Percentages-- Dist 1(NW) 0 0 83 17 Dist 2(NC) 0 16 73 11 Dist 3(NE) 0 38 62 0 Dist 4(WC) 2 24 69 5 Dist 5(C) 4 47 46 3 Dist 6(EC) 0 17 76 7 Dist 7(SW) 14 32 48 6 Dist 8(SC) 21 49 28 2 Dist 9(SE) 13 59 28 0 *A list of the counties in each of the nine Georgia Agricultural Statistics Districts is available at http://www.nass.usda.gov/ga/ctyests/districts.pdf. Weather Information Table GEORGIA WEATHER SUMMARY FOR THE WEEK ENDING MIDNIGHT, SUNDAY MAY 7, 2006 1/ 2006 Air Temperature Precipitation Totals Extreme Weekly Rain 30 60 Soil Location Max Min AvG Weekly Day Day Day Season Temp ALBANY 90 51 72 0.48 2 2.31 2.96 14.78 81 ALMA 89 46 70 0.07 2 2.35 3.15 15.89 71 ALPHARETTA 83 46 65 0.72 4 3.41 7.65 17.34 69 ARLINGTON 88 50 71 1.59 4 3.85 4.23 14.13 77 ATTAPULGUS 88 51 71 1.44 3 3.33 3.88 10.95 78 BLAIRSVILLE 79 41 61 1.51 6 4.19 7.87 16.42 65 BOWEN 89 48 70 0.91 2 2.62 2.94 12.49 78 BRUNSWICK 90 49 72 0.30 3 1.68 2.08 10.70 73 BYROMVILLE 89 49 70 0.01 1 2.56 3.70 12.46 73 BYRON 88 48 68 0.55 2 2.92 4.58 11.70 71 CAIRO 88 51 71 1.17 2 2.72 3.38 10.56 72 CALHOUN 83 45 65 1.03 4 4.37 7.75 15.24 69 CAMILLA 89 50 72 1.74 2 3.33 3.74 14.74 80 CLARKS HILL 88 42 67 1.58 3 3.90 5.66 13.39 72 CORDELE 89 50 71 1.20 2 3.33 4.49 14.19 75 COVINGTON 87 45 67 0.86 3 2.22 4.22 9.63 71 DAHLONEGA 81 44 63 0.54 4 2.87 5.75 13.72 65 DALLAS 83 49 66 0.88 4 4.12 8.19 19.91 68 DAWSON 89 49 71 0.74 1 1.84 2.59 9.03 73 DEARING 86 52 70 0.89 2 2.76 4.50 10.99 70 DEMPSEY 86 47 66 0.73 3 2.30 4.50 11.28 71 DIXIE 90 48 71 0.92 2 3.69 4.61 13.05 76 DUBLIN 90 46 70 1.99 2 4.53 5.76 14.21 73 DULUTH 84 46 65 0.79 4 3.14 6.31 18.14 68 DUNWOODY 82 48 65 0.76 2 3.29 6.64 16.99 68 EATONTON 87 43 67 1.20 3 2.77 4.81 11.75 60 ELBERTON 88 45 67 0.92 3 2.28 4.95 13.14 70 ELLIJAY 80 44 62 1.66 5 5.38 11.10 20.75 67 FORT VALLEY 88 48 70 0.44 2 2.30 3.57 10.36 77 GAINESVILLE 83 48 66 0.60 5 3.10 6.66 14.90 70 GEORGETOWN 89 49 71 1.46 2 2.91 4.22 12.80 79 GRIFFIN 85 49 67 0.69 5 2.35 4.32 11.76 69 HOMERVILLE 92 42 70 0.79 3 1.78 2.23 10.83 75 JACKSONVILLE 88 47 69 1.64 2 4.00 5.32 11.13 73 JONESBORO 85 48 67 1.02 4 4.07 6.89 15.39 70 LAFAYETTE 82 44 64 0.90 4 4.11 7.51 14.48 67 MCRAE 89 43 67 0.51 2 2.08 2.75 14.53 75 MIDVILLE 88 46 70 0.73 2 2.66 3.47 10.32 76 NAHUNTA 92 41 70 0.46 3 1.22 1.55 7.98 77 NEWTON 89 49 71 2.24 3 4.18 4.30 15.63 77 PINE MOUNTAIN 85 48 66 1.04 3 3.36 6.73 13.84 70 PLAINS 87 50 70 0.28 1 3.18 5.08 14.75 74 ROME 83 47 65 1.20 3 4.56 8.37 16.59 69 ROOPVILLE 85 46 66 0.81 5 3.71 6.59 16.28 70 SASSER 88 51 71 1.71 2 2.39 2.98 11.56 76 SAVANNAH 90 43 69 0.00 0 3.01 3.56 12.53 75 SHELLMAN 90 51 72 0.90 1 1.75 2.94 10.03 82 SKIDAWAY 89 47 69 0.13 5 1.96 2.49 9.80 70 SNEADS 87 56 72 0.02 2 3.54 4.05 12.71 72 STATESBORO 88 46 69 0.37 3 2.58 3.18 9.30 76 TIFTON 86 51 70 0.96 2 2.64 2.90 14.61 71 TIGER 80 40 61 0.98 6 3.96 7.43 17.17 66 VALDOSTA 90 51 72 0.93 2 2.73 3.45 11.96 70 VIDALIA 89 49 71 0.01 1 2.28 3.26 10.30 74 WATKINSVILLE 84 47 66 1.50 4 3.83 7.32 17.66 70 WILLIAMSON 86 45 66 0.91 5 1.87 4.20 10.17 71 WOODBINE 95 45 71 0.01 1 0.85 1.29 7.77 77 1/ Weather data supplied by Georgia Automated Environmental Monitoring Network (AEMN) and the office of the State Climatologist, University of Georgia. For detailed Georgia weather data visit the AEMN homepage, www.georgiaweather.net. NA - not available. District Highlights These comments are written by the Georgia County Extension Agents, and have been compiled and edited by the Georgia Agricultural Statistics Service. DISTRICT COMMENTS May 7, 2006 DISTRICT 1 - NORTHWEST No comments available. DISTRICT 2 - NORTH CENTRAL No comments available. DISTRICT 3 - NORTHEAST No comments available. DISTRICT 4 - WEST CENTRAL We received 0.3 to 0.9 of an inch of rain scattered around the county on Sunday. Still quite a bit of the county that lacks adequate soil moisture. DISTRICT 5 - CENTRAL Needing rain really bad! Crops, hayfields, and pastures beginning to suffer drought stress. Corn planting completed. Some livestock producers still having to feed hay. Everything is relatively stable weather wise in the county. Light rains Friday and Sunday helped improve soil moisture. Pastures are grazed down and in need of more moisture to recover. Got very much needed rains this past week! DISTRICT 6 - EAST CENTRAL Started planting early with what little moisture was available. Ahead of schedule on peanut planting. Wheat is turning and harvest could be two weeks early. Some scattered showers this weekend helped. DISTRICT 7 - SOUTHWEST We received 0.73" of rainfall. Crop plantings continued. We received 1.35 inches of rain. DISTRICT 8 - SOUTH CENTRAL Cutting hay but a weak first cutting. Planting peanuts and cotton but main problem is lack of soil moisture. We need rain and it is getting critical. Dry, dry, dry. Farmers have stopped planting for the most part and waiting on rain. Our lack of moisture will tighten our planting window for cotton and peanuts. Newly planted corn is in desperate need of a good rain. We are hoping for rain this weekend. The last three rain events we have received in weeks prior has been less than adequate for the majority of the county. Major activity includes planting cotton and peanuts and harvesting commercial vegetables. We could benefit from a good rain. DISTRICT 9 - SOUTHEAST Very dry conditions in the county. Find agricultural statistics for your county, State, and the Nation at www.usda.gov/nass/. Media Contact: David S. Abbe, Director USDA-NASS Georgia Field Office Phone: 706-546-2236 E-mail: nass-ga@nass.usda.gov Website: http://www.nass.usda.gov/ga