CAES Newswire

 College of Agricultural & Environmental Sciences UGA Cooperative Extension
Menu
Published on 07/05/19

UGA specialist optimistic recent rains will help improve state's corn crop

By Clint Thompson

After suffering a three-week dry spell in May, Georgia corn crops benefitted from rains during the month of June.

It's an encouraging sign for the future of this year’s corn crop, according to University of Georgia Cooperative Extension corn weed specialist Eric Prostko. 

“We’ve been catching these rains right at pollination or slightly later so they’ve been very helpful,” Prostko said.

No significant rainfall was recorded from May 11 into early June, causing uncertainty around Georgia’s corn crop in late May. This was especially harmful for Georgia’s dryland corn crop, where irrigation is unavailable. Georgia’s dryland acreage totals about 70,000 acres.

“Not having any rain really hurt us, but that 21- to 25-day period was especially rough because it was about seven degrees hotter than normal,” Prostko said. “Of course, we’ve been getting rains now so that should be really helpful.”

According to this year’s UGA Extension Corn Production Guide (https://t.uga.edu/54o), corn requires the most rainfall during pollination, approximately 0.33 inches per day. Rainfall is essential for the plant to produce ears of corn. If the corn doesn’t receive the right amount of water at the right time, the amount and size of the kernels could be impacted.

“Most of (Georgia’s) corn is irrigated, which is a good thing. But for the 20% that’s not, we won’t know the impact of that drought until it’s time for harvest,” Prostko said. “I had a farmer tell me this year that a year ago he made 200 bushels of dryland corn. I don’t think that’s going to happen this year.”

Dryland farmers had a successful year in 2018 due in large part to the abundance of rainfall Georgia experienced during late spring. Two straight weeks of rain in May 2018 helped spike corn production in dryland fields.

Georgia growers planted 325,000 acres in 2018, with harvested acres for grain estimated at 275,000. Corn production in Georgia was estimated at 46.5 million bushels in 2018, up 8% from 2017. Georgia corn yields have consistently been close to or more than 170 bushels per acre since 2012.

For more information about corn production in Georgia, see the UGA Grain Crop Team website at https://grains.caes.uga.edu.

Clint Thompson is an agriculture writer based in Tifton, Georgia.

Authors:
Clint Thompson
Experts/Sources:
Eric P. Prostko
A picture of a corn field from a few years ago. Recent rains have helped this year's corn crop, according to UGA Extension specialist Eric Prostko.
Lorem ipsum dolor sit amet, consectetur adipisicing elit, sed do eiusmod tempor incididunt ut labore et dolore magna aliqua.
Download Image
At the 2024 Georgia Life Sciences Summit held Oct. 21-22 in Atlanta, Professor Quingguo “Jack” Huang of the College of Agricultural & Environmental Sciences received the Golden Helix Innovation Award for his research in technologies to mitigate “forever chemicals” in water resources. (Photo by Andrew Davis Tucker) CAES News
Georgia Bio awards recognize UGA inventor, corporate partners 10/25/24 Carson McAfee
University of Georgia Professor Quingguo “Jack” Huang, Delta Innovation Hub resident Dalan Animal Health, and Athens manufacturer Meissner Corporation were recognized for their achievements in the life science industry at Georgia Bio’s Georgia Life Sciences Summit, held Oct. 21-22 in Atlanta. The Golden Helix Awards celebrate the contributions of Georgia legislative, academic, corporate, and advocacy leaders working to grow the life science industry and foster strategic partnerships that create a healthier world.
Combining data collection and analysis with plant pathology, precision agriculture and robotics, the UGA team will build a photographic library of the foliar symptoms caused by onion diseases and other physiological disorders, feed them into the AI software, and use machine learning to identify the diseases based on pattern and color recognition from the images. CAES News
UGA uses AI, robotics to improve Georgia’s Vidalia sweet onion crop 10/23/24 Jordan Powers
A multidisciplinary team of UGA researchers aims to enhance the competitiveness of Vidalia onion growers in Georgia by providing them with the ability to confidently detect onion diseases early, enabling them to make management decisions on their crop at a critical time. These abilities, researchers say, should result in increased yield and quality of marketable onions and an overall increase in efficiency and productivity.
Jennifer Jo Thompson shops for locally grown produce at the Athens Farmers Market. CAES News
CAES anthropologist works to build sustainable food systems 10/21/24 Emily Cabrera
Jennifer Jo Thompson's work is situated at the intersection of science, health and food systems. A researcher in the University of Georgia Department of Crop and Soil Sciences, Thompson uses her background in medical anthropology to engage with policy and social justice to improve sustainability in agriculture and food systems. Learn more about her journey to academia and ongoing projects to build sustainable food systems in the College of Agricultural and Environmental Sciences.
Some of the University of Georgia's extended campuses saw damage from Hurricane Helene. (Photo courtesy of Adam Fouche) CAES News
Relief efforts continue after Hurricane Helene 10/04/24
The University of Georgia community has rallied in the wake of Hurricane Helene, coming together to address damage done to campus facilities while also lending a helping hand to friends and neighbors hit hardest by the storm. While UGA’s main campus weathered the storm with relatively minor damage, the same could not be said for the Tifton campus, where heavy rains and high winds brought down trees and power lines, leaving the campus and surrounding area without power.
Gavin Shytle CAES News
Gavin Shytle changes the game with UGA Grounds Crew 10/01/24
It’s a special moment to step inside Sanford Stadium and walk across that sprawling green field between the hedges. While the grass beneath your feet may not always be your first thought at the Freshman Welcome or Commencement, it is for Gavin Shytle. Keeping the turf safe, healthy, and aesthetically pleasing is the sworn duty of Shytle and his fellow turfgrass management majors. Before athletes even hit the ground running, he makes sure the ground is prepped for them.
The University of Georgia Center for Continuing Education & Hotel saw some damage from the winds and rain of Hurricane Helene. (Photo by Andrew Davis Tucker/UGA) CAES News
UGA weathers Hurricane Helene 09/27/24
The University of Georgia’s main campus was fortunate to emerge relatively unscathed after Hurricane Helene barreled through the state early Friday morning. However, the impact was more significant at our extended campus locations. While the UGA Griffin campus reported no major damage, UGA-Tifton was hit much harder, with dozens of downed trees and power outages, as well as flooding in several buildings. Damage to farm operations across south Georgia appears to be extensive.