Browse Grains Stories

It is said that if you find a job you love, you will never work a day in your life. For Alfredo Martinez-Espinoza, this has come true through his work as a plant pathologist with University of Georgia Cooperative Extension. His passion and hard work have been recognized with the American Phytopathological Society’s (APS) 2021 Excellence in Extension award.

During a summer when Georgia corn farmers have relied heavily on their irrigation systems working effectively, many struggled with equipment malfunctions that may have reduced crop yields. University of Georgia Cooperative Extension irrigation specialist Wes Porter believes that those problems can be avoided in the future if producers make necessary modifications after the growing season.

Katrien M. Devos, a professor of crop and soil sciences and plant biology at the University of Georgia, has been named a Fellow of the Crop Science Society of America (CSSA).

From what’s being observed in some South Georgia pastures this fall, oats are struggling, with growers seeing issues from cold damage, nutrient and moisture stress and possible Barley Yellow Dwarf Virus. Above average rainfall in November and December also have prevented cattle from getting into oat pastures for winter grazing.

As farmers around the world battle extreme drought and other climate events, researchers turn to pearl millet to find ways to make other grains more resilient to climate change. A global team of 65 scientists, including nine from the University of Georgia, have decoded some of the secrets to the crop’s coping strategies.

Reagan Noland, University of Georgia Cooperative Extension’s newest agronomist, specializes in corn, soybean and small grains like wheat, oats, barley and rye. These commodities have a combined Georgia farm gate value of almost $450 million.

In 2017, Georgia row crop farmers will likely devote more acreage to the state’s tried-and-true commodities: cotton and peanuts. This and other agricultural projections for the year were the focus of the 10th annual Georgia Ag Forecast seminar series, held across the state Jan. 18-27.

When University of Georgia plant geneticist Andrew Paterson began searching for lines of sorghum that might survive in some of the most parched places in the world, he didn’t plant trials in the desert.

Researchers at the University of Georgia College of Agricultural and Environmental Sciences broke records in fiscal year 2016 with $69 million in external funding to fuel college projects.

Led by increases in forestry and livestock values, Georgia’s agricultural output increased by $484 million in 2014, making agriculture, once again, the largest industry in the state with a value of $14.1 billion. According to the most recent University of Georgia Farmgate Value Report, published earlier this month, the value of Georgia’s livestock and aquaculture industries increased by almost 36 percent from 2013.