Browse Environment Stories - Page 20

Are your sinuses clogged? Do you feel like you are walking in a sea of yellow dust? Have you washed your car three times this week? Welcome to pollen season in Georgia.

Going into the start of the growing season, a wetter, cooler-than-normal April helped to reduce drought conditions across the northern three-quarters of Georgia, but drought conditions remain in the southeastern corner of the state.

Georgia farmers should expect dry weather when they plant their crops this spring, but Pam Knox, University of Georgia College of Agricultural and Environmental Sciences agricultural climatologist, anticipates an active tropical storm season in the Atlantic Ocean this summer.

Pine straw production, timber sales and wildlife management will top the list of topics at the Agroforestry and Wildlife Field Day slated for Thursday, Sept. 20, at the University of Georgia’s Westbrook Research Farm in Griffin, Georgia.

University of Georgia Cooperative Extension agents often get calls from homeowners who are concerned about the quality of their well water. Water from municipal sources is routinely monitored for safety, but water from private wells isn’t.

The average American uses between 80 and 100 gallons of water a day, and that may not seem like much, but over the course of a year, or a lifetime, it adds up. With only 1 percent of the world’s water suitable for drinking or growing crops, it’s up to everyone to the do their part to conserve this finite resource.

Georgians are accustomed to evergreen azaleas, but native azaleas are currently growing in popularity. Unlike evergreen azaleas, native azaleas lose their leaves in the fall, grow tall and airy rather than low and dense, and bloom in the spring and summer.

Water summits in Tifton, Georgia, this week and across the U.S. provide fruit and vegetable growers with an opportunity to discuss water use on farms and simplification of existing water regulation standards with Food and Drug Administration (FDA) officials.

Georgia saw a cooler-than-normal start to the year, and most of the state posted average temperatures between 2.5 and 4 degrees below normal. With cool, dry air expected to dominate Georgia’s climate in coming weeks, there is a chance that drought could continue expanding across the state and may persist through the spring.

In the U.S., the most toxic pesticides can only be purchased and used by those who’ve undergone rigorous training. In some other countries, that’s not the case. Mickey Taylor, who coordinates Georgia’s Pesticide Safety Education Program (PSEP) through University of Georgia Cooperative Extension, recently attended a conference in Qui Nhon, Vietnam. There, Taylor discussed best practices for implementing pesticide regulation and education programs in emerging economies.