News Stories - Page 309

Many parts of Georgia only saw about a quarter of their normal October rainfall during October 2013. CAES News
Dry October
After an extremely wet summer, Georgians saw the return of abnormally dry conditions in October.
Georgia 4-H State Leader Arch Smith (right) and Georgia 4-H Environmental Education Program Director Melanie Biersmith unveil the sign at the Diane Davies Natural History Museum on Oct. 29, 2013. Davies, the founder of the program, looks on. CAES News
Davies Honored
Thirty-four years ago, Georgia 4-H State Leader Tom Rodgers gave Diane Davies $300 and six months to create an environmental education program for children. She turned that $300 into a nationally recognized program that has served over 1 million children in Georgia's public schools, private schools and home-schooled students.
Pictured are peanut burrower bugs. CAES News
Burrower bug
A silent peanut pest is eating away at profits and has Georgia producers concerned. The burrower bug can wreak havoc on a farmer’s peanuts without him even knowing.
Ree Daniel, of Tift County, won first-place with her 252-pound pumpkin in the 2014 Georgia 4-H Pumpkin Growing Contest. CAES News
Giant Pumpkins
People often associate giant pumpkins with northern states like Michigan and Massachusetts, but Georgia gardeners routinely produce 200- to 350-pound pumpkins. What makes these giant gourds more remarkable is that some of these gardeners are only about one-quarter of the size of their prize pumpkins.
Cotton is dumped into a trailer at the Gibbs Farm in Tifton on Wednesday, Oct. 30, 2013. CAES News
Cotton Crop
Mid-summer rainfall combined with cooler fall weather could impact production for late-season cotton farmers throughout Georgia.
Former Gordon County Extension Agent Steve Moraitakis, current Gorden County Extension Coordinator Greg Bowman and Joan Sutherland, Gordon County Extension Secretary wave hello from their new headquarters at the Gordon County Ag Service Center. CAES News
Gordon County Ag Service Center
With the opening of the Gordon County Agricultural Service Center this month, farmers in northwest Georgia now have a one-stop shop for information and help.
Carpet beetles can be black or have varied colors on their backs. Beetles come indoors during the winter and can eat holes in wool sweaters, socks and coats. CAES News
Unwelcomed houseguests
As temperatures begin to drop, people head indoors. Unfortunately, insects like ants and lady beetles like to stay warm, too, and often choose our homes as refuge.
Andrew Paterson, director of the University of Georgia's Plant Genome Mapping Laboratory, has received a USAID grant to fund a international effort to develop the sustainable intensification of sorghum. CAES News
Feed the Future
An international team led by the University of Georgia’s Plant Genome Mapping Laboratory will work toward sustainable intensification of sorghum production through a $4.98 million grant recently funded by the U.S. Agency for International Development as part of Feed the Future, the U.S. Government’s global hunger and food security initiative.
cracked pecans CAES News
Pecan Production
Increased rainfall in the summer opened the door to disease and drastically lowered individual size and quantity of pecans produced in Georgia this year.