ga-crop-weather State Georgia Crop Weather Week Ending Date May 31, 2009 Issue GA-CW2209 Agricultural Summary June 1, 2009 WET WEATHER Rain delayed field activities until late in the week, according to the USDA, NASS, Georgia Field Office. Daily average high temperatures were in the 80's. Average lows were in the 60's. Soil moisture conditions were rated at 0% very short, 5% short, 65% adequate, and 30% surplus. Wet weather caused some hay to rot and drowned tobacco. There were reports of small grains sprouting on the head. Excess moisture slowed planting. Some produce could not be harvested. Fruit crops battled bacterial and fungal diseases due to the wet weather; however, the blueberry crop looked good. Growers may revaluate row crop plantings due to the lateness of the wheat harvest and wet fields. County Extension Agents reported an average of 3.6 days suitable for fieldwork. Crop Progress for Week Ending 05/31/09 -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Crop Stage : This Week : Prev Week : Prev Year : 5 Year Avg -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- : Percent : Corn Silked : 8 2 9 13 Soybeans Planted : 39 30 53 52 Soybeans Emerged : 26 17 37 38 Sorghum Planted : 33 25 56 52 Cotton Planted : 61 53 80 82 Cotton Squaring : 1 0 2 3 Winter Wheat Harvested : 11 5 21 34 Onions Harvested : 85 75 89 89 Peaches Harvested : 12 8 9 12 Peanuts Planted : 63 52 82 81 Peanuts Blooming : 2 0 3 3 -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Crop Condition for Week Ending 05/31/09 -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Crop :Very Poor : Poor : Fair : Good :Excellent -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- : Percent : Corn : 1 5 29 53 12 Cotton : 2 9 43 42 4 Winter Wheat : 12 20 33 30 5 Range and Pasture : 0 5 23 61 11 Apples : 0 0 5 45 50 Hay : 0 5 29 57 9 Peaches : 0 18 18 64 0 Peanuts : 1 8 35 54 2 Pecans : 0 0 38 44 18 Tobacco : 1 12 45 36 6 Watermelons : 3 17 48 29 3 -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Topsoil Moisture for Week Ending 05/31/09 -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- : This Week :Previous Week : 5 Year Avg -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- : Percent : Very Short : 0 1 27 Short : 5 8 36 Adequate : 65 60 34 Surplus : 30 31 4 -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Topsoil Moisture for Week Ending 05/31/09, by District -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- District : Very Short : Short : Adequate : Surplus -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- : Percent : District 1 (NW) : 0 1 60 39 District 2 (NC) : 0 16 78 6 District 3 (NE) : 0 10 88 2 District 4 (WC) : 0 3 66 31 District 5 (C) : 0 2 70 28 District 6 (EC) : 0 4 73 23 District 7 (SW) : 0 4 60 36 District 8 (SC) : 0 0 47 53 District 9 (SE) : 0 11 65 24 -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- * A list of the counties in each of the nine Georgia Agricultural Statistics Districts is available at http://www.nass.usda.gov/Statistics_by_State/Georgia/Publications/County_Esti mates/index.asp. Pasture Condition for Week Ending 05/31/09, by District -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- District : Very Poor : Poor : Fair : Good : Excellent -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- : Percent : District 1 (NW) : 0 4 36 55 5 District 2 (NC) : 0 0 8 73 19 District 3 (NE) : 0 0 19 49 32 District 4 (WC) : 0 9 24 57 10 District 5 (C) : 2 8 8 75 7 District 6 (EC) : 0 0 20 77 3 District 7 (SW) : 0 5 32 53 10 District 8 (SC) : 0 5 34 53 8 District 9 (SE) : 0 0 31 61 8 -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- * A list of the counties in each of the nine Georgia Agricultural Statistics Districts is available at http://www.nass.usda.gov/Statistics_by_State/Georgia/Publications/County_Esti mates/index.asp. Weather Summary for Week Ending 05/31/09, by Station Location ------------------------------------------------------------------------------- : Temperature : Precipitation : Location :-----------------:-------------------------------------:Soil : Max : Min : Avg :Weekly : Days :30 Day :60 Day:Season :Temp ------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Alapaha : 86 65 75 1.46 2 7.65 13.45 27.55 77 Albany : 87 68 77 1.22 3 5.08 12.14 25.21 81 Alma : 87 67 77 1.28 3 8.34 15.81 27.82 77 Arabi : 85 66 75 1.45 2 8.88 14.49 25.83 78 Arlington : 86 66 76 1.48 2 4.75 10.73 27.23 78 Atlanta : 82 64 73 0.28 2 3.24 6.87 17.02 NA Attapulgus : 85 66 75 1.14 3 4.08 10.75 25.60 80 Baxley : 86 65 76 1.42 4 9.13 16.44 26.72 80 Blairsville : 78 58 68 0.53 4 6.50 9.23 20.22 71 Blue Ridge : 78 60 69 0.28 5 7.76 11.56 26.78 72 Brunswick : 86 69 77 0.76 4 6.82 11.23 20.52 78 Byromville : 85 65 75 1.36 3 8.08 11.86 22.79 76 Byron : 85 64 75 1.46 4 6.62 10.96 24.09 76 Cairo : 85 66 76 0.56 4 3.17 9.94 23.82 73 Calhoun : 81 61 71 1.06 3 4.94 9.68 24.98 74 Camilla : 87 67 77 1.00 1 5.16 12.91 28.21 81 Cordele : 85 66 75 1.94 3 4.27 10.38 19.14 75 Dahlonega : 80 61 71 3.18 5 8.64 13.35 29.39 70 Dallas : 81 63 72 0.38 3 3.66 8.96 21.64 73 Danielsville : 84 63 74 1.40 3 4.10 8.38 22.72 79 Dawson : 85 64 75 2.54 4 6.84 11.41 23.52 77 Dearing : 86 66 76 0.11 1 6.92 11.23 22.70 77 Dixie : 87 67 77 0.63 4 3.67 10.16 20.83 79 Douglas : 87 66 77 0.27 4 7.48 15.86 27.62 78 Dublin : 86 65 76 0.85 4 4.64 9.40 18.70 72 Dunwoody : 81 60 70 1.50 3 5.99 11.25 25.15 74 Eatonton : 85 63 74 0.35 4 4.41 11.13 27.43 77 Elberton : 86 64 75 0.34 4 5.94 10.13 22.84 77 Ellijay : 80 59 69 0.26 4 5.76 9.44 22.22 74 Gainesville : 82 64 73 0.74 4 4.07 8.48 25.24 76 Georgetown : 82 62 72 1.71 4 12.70 15.26 30.14 77 Griffin : 82 63 73 0.26 3 3.71 6.91 24.84 74 Hatley : 86 66 76 1.78 2 5.50 11.25 20.62 76 Homerville : 87 65 76 4.26 2 9.05 15.84 28.28 79 Jeffersonville : 84 63 74 1.34 4 5.56 9.65 18.53 77 Johns Creek : 83 60 71 0.21 3 2.97 6.91 21.57 73 Jonesboro : 84 63 74 0.72 3 5.41 10.16 25.54 76 Lake Seminole : 83 70 77 1.54 3 2.76 9.40 21.13 76 Midville : 87 67 77 0.07 2 9.35 15.07 20.90 80 Moultrie : 85 68 76 0.64 2 4.81 12.01 27.66 78 Nahunta : 88 66 0 3.02 6 10.73 18.25 27.75 80 Newton : 87 67 77 1.09 1 3.40 10.45 28.08 80 Odum : 87 65 76 1.07 4 6.17 12.75 24.00 78 Ossabaw : 85 69 77 0.25 4 8.76 13.20 22.68 82 Pine Mountain : 83 62 72 0.81 4 3.93 10.31 27.22 74 Plains : 82 63 72 1.30 3 7.09 11.82 25.50 76 Roopville : 83 63 73 0.69 3 5.57 9.58 24.24 75 Rome : 83 63 73 2.66 3 7.27 12.59 31.49 74 Sasser : 85 65 75 2.61 5 7.87 12.44 23.36 75 Savannah : 88 67 78 0.66 2 7.84 13.65 21.42 80 Shellman : 85 66 75 1.57 5 4.87 7.94 18.03 79 Skidaway : 86 69 77 0.00 0 8.82 13.24 22.05 77 Sparta : 85 64 75 0.52 3 4.60 10.34 24.59 78 Statesboro : 86 66 76 1.03 4 6.39 11.35 17.10 79 Tennille : 86 65 75 1.91 2 10.27 15.18 26.46 78 Tifton : 85 67 76 0.83 4 6.54 13.83 26.84 76 Unadilla : 84 64 74 1.82 2 6.42 10.62 20.76 76 Valdosta : 87 68 78 0.75 4 5.77 11.83 22.73 80 Vienna : 86 66 76 0.84 3 4.66 12.21 25.10 76 Vidalia : 87 66 77 0.84 3 8.35 13.66 23.91 78 Wat-UGA : 84 64 74 0.63 3 3.91 7.82 23.52 76 Williamson : 82 62 72 0.53 4 3.76 6.78 23.62 75 Woodbine : 86 65 75 1.61 5 5.29 9.76 20.57 79 ------------------------------------------------------------------------------- *Weather data are supplied by the 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 at www.georgiaweather.net. DISTRICT COMMENTS May 31, 2009 DISTRICT 1 - NORTHWEST Received 2.9 inches of rain in the last week. DISTRICT 2 - NORTH CENTRAL Blueberries are heavy with fruit...looks like a bumper crop. Heavy rain this week delayed field activities until late in the week, cutting hay is major activity at week's end. DISTRICT 3 - NORTHEAST Topsoil seems to be drying quickly. DISTRICT 4 - WEST CENTRAL We are cutting some hay. Trying to put cotton and peanuts in the ground. Everything is late. Rain. Need some dry days to allow wheat harvest; clover for small grain suffered losses due to sprouting in head; some hay put in; Bermuda grass beginning to come on. DISTRICT 5 - CENTRAL We received 1.09 inches of rainfall over the past 7 days roughly translating into 0.181 inches of rainfall each day. Lots of rain this week. Nearly impossible to get into fields. Hay is rotting in field. Wheat has sprouted. Grain harvesting at a standstill. Waiting on drier fields. All planting halted. Great to see the sun! This is the wettest spring we have had in recent memory. We measured between 4.5 and 6 inches of rain last week. Forage and hay production very good. It is terrible hay weather. It is ready to cut but hasn't been dry enough to cut. Some was cut the middle of last week, got wet several times, and ended up rotting in the field this week. We also are having challenges with home garden tomatoes and squash with the excess moisture. DISTRICT 6 - EAST CENTRAL Wheat harvest starting full speed today. Moisture coming down fast and a small percentage of sprouts in some early planted (October)fields. Growers trying to hasten drying process with rotary hoes/mulchmasters in order to finish peanut planting. I imagine peanuts will be done before wheat harvest gets in full swing. Very few, if any peanuts will be planted after wheat due to lateness on the calendar. Probably more beans than cotton will follow wheat and growers are gratified just to finish planting after waiting all month to get going. DISTRICT 7 - SOUTHWEST Cotton behind due to wet weather and sand blasting, several thousand acres to be replanted. Wet! DISTRICT 8 - SOUTH CENTRAL Lots of tobacco drowned and growers trying to aerate soil and ditch if possible. Preparing equipment for planting. Hoping to harvest grains next week and plant cotton, peanuts and soybeans ASAP. Feeding cattle hay. Wet weather causes major planting delays and causes challenges for harvesting wheat. Some crops are being affected in a very disastrous way. Produce not able to be harvested, wheat sprouting in the field, delays in pollination of crops and increase in disease. Wet weather has ruined the wheat crop because of sprout damage. Most fruit crops are battling bacterial and fungal diseases at a heavy rate because of the wet weather. The remaining 50% of the peanut and cotton crop will not be planted with full insurance coverage unless RMA provides an extension of at least 10 days on the crop insurance deadline. Farming has been tough this spring! DISTRICT 9 - SOUTHEAST No comments available.