News Stories - Page 28

Growers who are anxious to buy large quantities of the newest pecan cultivar, ‘Avalon,’ will likely be disappointed as supplies are low, according to University of Georgia pecan breeder Patrick Conner. The new UGA-bred cultivar will be released this spring.

A University of Georgia student’s survey of the cotton industry found that the crop, once “king” in Georgia, can compete with synthetic fibers and will continue to be economically and environmentally feasible into the future.

University of Georgia Cooperative Extension will host the Beginners Pecan Production Course on Tuesday, April 18, at the UGA Tifton Campus Conference Center.

Georgia’s peanut crop is expected to exceed 700,000 acres this year, which increases both hope for income improvement and fear of loss to disease, according to Scott Monfort, University of Georgia Cooperative Extension peanut agronomist.

Georgia corn growers can expect to face challenges in pricing this year, according to Dewey Lee, University of Georgia Cooperative Extension feed grain agronomist.

Agriculture is Georgia’s top industry, and students from the University of Georgia College of Agricultural and Environmental Sciences are learning about the diversity of agriculture during a weeklong tour across the state.

Ron Gitaitis, a plant pathologist with the University of Georgia College of Agricultural and Environmental Sciences, was inducted into the Vidalia Onion Hall of Fame by the Vidalia Onion Committee at the committee’s annual awards banquet, held on Feb. 4 at the Vidalia Community Center in Vidalia, Georgia.

The cost of controlling plant diseases combined with the cost of irrigation continues to push Georgia watermelon growers to become more innovative and productive, according to University of Georgia Cooperative Extension vegetable horticulturist Tim Coolong.

A south Georgia cotton gin is helping the University of Georgia’s C.M. Stripling Irrigation Research Park (SIRP) harvest cotton more efficiently thanks to their donation of a cotton module builder and cotton boll buggy.