ga-crop-weather State Georgia Crop Weather Week Ending Date July 30, 2006 Issue GA-CW3006 Agricultural Summary July 30, 2006 DRY CONDITIONS PREVAIL The State experienced scattered rains this week, but dry conditions still prevail, according to the USDA, NASS, Georgia Field Office. While weeklong rainfall for the state averaged near one inch, the amounts reported for each station were widely varied. Some stations received only a few tenths of an inch, while other received well over two inches. Highs peaked midweek with temperatures in the upper 90's and weeklong lows averaged near 70. Soil moisture conditions were rated at 27% very short, 44% short, 28% adequate, and 1% surplus. Scattered showers were not enough to maintain previous improvement in crop quality. Crop, pasture, and hayfield conditions continued to decline due to the heat and drought. Pond and stream levels remained low and more wells were going dry. Hay shortage was critical in some areas. Other weedy fields were used for grazing. Beef cattle sales were increasing because of the hay shortage. Steady rain is critical in order to replenish hay reserves. Growers were actively picking tobacco this week and some reported splitworms. Other activities included field preparation for fall crops. County Extension Agents reported an average of 5.9 days suitable for fieldwork. CROP PROGRESS Jul 30, Prev Prev 5 Year 2006 Week Year Avg Corn, Dough 95 90 90 94 Corn, Dent 81 67 61 76 Corn, Mature 41 25 15 35 Corn, Harvested 1 0 0 3 Soybeans, Blooming 65 49 65 68 Soybeans, Setting Pods 35 20 33 40 Cotton, Setting Bolls 90 82 73 82 Apples, Harvested 4 1 2 7 Peaches, Harvested 76 73 85 90 Peanuts, Pegging 93 87 93 94 Tobacco, Harvested 44 33 35 43 Watermelons, Harvested 97 94 91 95 CROP CONDITION July 30, 2006 Crop Very Poor Poor Fair Good Excellent --Percentages-- Corn 11 29 33 22 5 Soybeans 13 31 39 17 0 Sorghum 9 23 40 27 1 Cotton 15 22 37 24 2 Pasture 27 38 29 5 1 Apples 0 10 24 60 6 Hay 25 39 29 6 1 Peanuts 9 20 40 29 2 Pecans 15 38 34 13 0 Tobacco 6 25 41 26 2 PASTURE CONDITION - DISTRICT* LEVEL July 30, 2006 Very Poor Poor Fair Good Excellent --Percentages-- Dist 1(NW) 30 46 24 0 0 Dist 2(NC) 12 38 43 6 1 Dist 3(NE) 17 49 33 1 0 Dist 4(WC) 12 51 35 2 0 Dist 5(C) 27 51 21 1 0 Dist 6(EC) 26 30 27 13 4 Dist 7(SW) 45 27 20 8 0 Dist 8(SC) 30 33 31 6 0 Dist 9(SE) 27 20 45 8 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 Jul 30, 2006 Prev Year 5 Year Avg --Percentages-- Very Short 27 2 5 Short 44 25 25 Adequate 28 61 59 Surplus 1 12 11 SOIL MOISTURE - DISTRICT* LEVEL July 30, 2006 Very Short Short Adequate Surplus --Percentages-- Dist 1(NW) 42 55 3 0 Dist 2(NC) 31 41 28 0 Dist 3(NE) 19 49 32 0 Dist 4(WC) 39 33 25 3 Dist 5(C) 15 58 27 0 Dist 6(EC) 28 49 23 0 Dist 7(SW) 17 36 43 4 Dist 8(SC) 34 41 25 0 Dist 9(SE) 31 35 34 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 JULY 30, 2006 1/ 2006 Air Temperature Precipitation Totals Extreme Weekly Rain 30 60 Soil Location Max Min AvG Weekly Day Day Day Season Temp ALBANY 99 72 81 0.54 5 3.36 9.78 26.74 87 ALMA 99 70 81 0.07 2 0.92 5.75 25.63 83 ALPHARETTA 97 65 79 0.24 2 3.04 6.50 24.46 82 ARLINGTON 98 65 77 1.54 4 4.77 6.55 23.97 83 ATTAPULGUS 97 69 80 1.68 3 4.22 9.78 23.55 86 BLAIRSVILE 90 58 74 0.16 2 3.14 9.47 28.77 80 BOWEN 99 70 79 0.30 5 2.72 7.02 20.67 87 BRUNSWICK 95 74 83 0.11 3 0.88 6.39 18.17 84 BYROMVILLE 99 71 80 0.49 3 2.01 3.60 21.05 86 BYRON 99 70 80 3.98 5 4.04 5.94 18.97 83 CAIRO 97 71 81 1.67 2 2.31 4.69 19.46 83 CALHOUN 98 61 79 0.07 2 1.38 4.74 22.17 86 CAMILLA 97 72 80 2.40 4 4.87 8.27 26.57 87 CLARKS HILL 98 68 79 2.77 5 4.79 13.49 27.52 84 CORDELE 98 71 80 1.26 3 3.81 5.01 20.36 86 COVINGTON 97 68 79 0.17 3 3.30 5.33 15.75 84 DAHLONEGA 92 62 76 0.65 3 2.24 5.46 20.78 80 DALLAS 95 66 79 0.03 1 1.73 3.42 24.15 82 DEARING 99 70 80 2.82 4 4.41 11.29 22.72 83 DEMPSEY 96 67 78 0.94 4 2.12 4.69 17.07 82 DIXIE 97 69 79 0.48 4 3.51 7.98 22.60 85 DUBLIN 101 71 81 0.79 2 1.40 4.42 19.44 84 DULUTH 98 65 80 1.23 2 2.21 5.19 24.07 84 DUNWOODY 96 66 79 0.07 1 1.66 6.12 23.76 82 EATONTON 99 68 80 0.28 2 1.90 5.65 17.97 87 ELBERTON 99 68 79 3.07 4 4.75 7.24 21.31 82 ELLIJAY 93 60 75 0.16 2 1.90 4.57 26.91 82 FORT VALLEY 98 69 79 0.81 5 3.36 4.33 15.95 82 GAINESVILLE 95 70 80 0.03 1 0.63 3.09 18.85 87 GEORGETOWN 98 69 79 1.14 4 2.36 4.60 20.02 84 GRIFFIN 94 68 78 1.19 4 2.45 5.46 18.24 82 HOMERVILLE 99 69 80 0.62 6 3.17 6.50 19.74 85 JACKSONVILLE 98 70 79 2.55 4 4.51 6.49 18.90 85 JONESBORO 98 68 79 0.51 3 2.21 6.05 22.27 83 LAFAYETTE 97 61 79 0.01 1 2.09 5.54 22.67 81 MCRAE 98 69 80 1.11 2 2.10 4.86 22.09 87 MIDVILLE 99 71 80 0.47 5 1.12 6.97 18.18 87 NAHUNTA 100 69 80 1.68 3 3.24 9.60 19.85 86 NEWTON 97 70 80 0.27 2 2.17 6.61 26.54 87 PINE MOUNTAIN 96 67 77 4.11 4 6.72 7.63 23.14 82 PLAINS 96 69 78 1.46 5 5.22 6.89 24.23 84 ROME 96 65 79 0.00 0 2.72 5.62 23.53 83 ROOPVILLE 97 66 78 1.12 5 3.72 8.45 26.26 83 SASSER 96 71 79 0.36 4 2.84 3.42 17.86 84 SAVANNAH 98 72 81 1.97 3 2.61 9.03 23.10 86 SHELLMAN 98 70 79 0.50 4 2.70 4.36 16.38 86 SKIDAWAY 95 71 81 1.29 5 5.49 10.34 22.36 82 SNEADS 97 71 81 0.01 1 0.17 1.83 15.52 87 STATESBORO 99 16 78 0.09 2 4.86 10.24 20.06 88 TIGER 91 62 74 0.94 3 1.81 10.29 30.81 80 VALDOSTA 99 72 81 2.44 4 4.57 13.13 26.05 81 VIDALIA 101 72 81 0.02 2 2.93 6.22 17.07 84 WATKINSVILLE 97 70 79 1.21 5 3.51 5.48 23.97 83 WILLIAMSON 95 67 78 1.48 4 3.42 6.44 17.69 82 WOODBINE 98 70 81 0.57 3 1.78 7.63 17.16 85 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 July 30, 2006 DISTRICT 1 - NORTHWEST Extremely dry, we are missing the scattered showers. DISTRICT 2 - NORTH CENTRAL Dry conditions caused decline in crop conditions - rain needed badly. Rain, finally! Crops and pastures suffering from lack of rain in the county. DISTRICT 3 - NORTHEAST Conditions are deteriorating rapidly. DISTRICT 4 - WEST CENTRAL We received 1.5 inches of rain on Sunday July 23 which helped tremendously. DISTRICT 5 - CENTRAL Hot and dry! Some areas got some scattered light showers this week but not much rain overall. Crop, pasture and hayfield conditions continue to decline and pond and stream levels continue to drop. Scattered showers have helped keep some crops from declining further. Most need much more rain and continue to decline. We need rain as most of our producers are feeding stored hay. We need to get steady rains to replenish our hay reserves. Got some rain Saturday evening--but this was only the second time in two months we've gotten any--pastures and hay crops are in bad shape. Hot and dry! Some areas of the county received rained others missed it. DISTRICT 6 - EAST CENTRAL Spotty showers, very hot, some cotton getting rain and re-starting reproductive growth. Hot and dry. DISTRICT 7 - SOUTHWEST We received 0.22" of rainfall. Hay shortage continues. Three requests for hay suppliers. Dryland corn used for baling. Nitrate testing for dryland corn. Johnson grass, Texas ponicum and other weedy fields utilized for hay beef cattle sales increasing because of shortages. Still dry in several areas in the county. DISTRICT 8 - SOUTH CENTRAL Picking tobacco, found some splitworms in tobacco. Getting some scattered thundershowers but not enough. Hot and humid. Need a good rain. DISTRICT 9 - SOUTHEAST We need rain. Find agricultural statistics for your county, State, and the Nation at www.usda.gov/nass/. Media Contact: S. Radley Edwards, Acting Director USDA-NASS Georgia Field Office Phone: 706-546-2236 E-mail: nass-ga@nass.usda.gov Website: http://www.nass.usda.gov/ga