Browse Climate Stories

154 results found for Climate
IdaliaDamage CAES News
Emergency Preparedness
Georgia’s geographic diversity — from beaches and swamps to mountains and flatlands —makes the state an attractive place to live, but each region is vulnerable to weather-related emergencies year-round. When disasters strike, navigating the milieu of steps to recover and rebuild can be difficult. With a presence in all 159 Georgia counties, University of Georgia Cooperative Extension is uniquely positioned to help communities prepare for and rebound from calamity.
DW Brooks25 web CAES News
2023 DWB Lecture
Without direct intervention, food systems could be the largest contributor to environmental pollution by mid-century. This warning — and more importantly, the research efforts in place to make change — were highlighted in Edward Buckler’s keynote address at the 2023 D.W. Brooks Lecture and Awards. “Right now our food system is costing us more than the value we are getting out of it. This is something we need to fundamentally address,“ said Buckler, a research geneticist with the U.S. Department of Agriculture Agricultural Research Service.
Associate Professor Ali Missaoui, one of several University of Georgia faculty associated with the Center for Bioenergy Innovation (CBI) at Oak Ridge National Laboratory, breeds switchgrass as a potential feedstock for biofuels at UGA’s Iron Horse Farm in Watkinsville. The switchgrass program is just one of the multiple UGA research projects intended to help the transportation industry move toward a more sustainable future. (Photo by Lauren Corcino) CAES News
Growing Gas
As the world grapples with how to reduce its carbon footprint, it’s clear there’s no silver bullet solution for climate change. It will take a multifaceted approach to scale back fossil fuel usage and find more sustainable alternatives. Several UGA researchers are working on promising pathways like bioenergy and bioproducts, forms of renewable energy and materials that could curb carbon emissions.
The big player in the weather the rest of this growing season and next winter is the rapidly developing El Niño. The statistics and longest-range climate models suggest that by November we could see typical rainy El Niño conditions occurring over southern Georgia and Alabama down into Florida as well as up the East Coast. CAES News
Climate Outlook
While we had an early start to the growing season, it was followed by colder conditions in March that slowed things down quite a bit. Since that time, we have seen periods of very warm weather alternating with much cooler conditions. As soil temperatures rise and fall, it has been tough for farmers to know when to plant. The big player in the weather the rest of this growing season and next winter is the rapidly developing El Niño.
Salt marshes, like this one on Jekyll Island, are vital parts of the ecosystem for oysters along the Georgia coastline. (Photo by Chris Greer) CAES News
Shell to Shore
University of Georgia alumnus Zachary Brendel gives new life to discarded things. You can see it throughout the streets of downtown Athens — from an old tire store that glows with reimagined life as Creature Comforts brewery or an audio recording school operating at full tilt within a converted shoe store. Both are revitalization projects completed by Athens-based Character Built Construction, which was co-founded by Brendel.
An arched iceberg located along the Antarctic Peninsula, taken June 17. Last month Antarctic sea ice extent reached a record low for June, at 4.68 million square miles — or about 471,000 square miles below average. (Photo by Dan Costa/National Science Foundation/Creative Commons) CAES News
Weather extremes
Halfway through 2022, Earth is on course for another top-10 finish in global temperature. After six months, the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) reported that the period from January through June 2022 was the planet’s sixth warmest on record, with observations that go back to 1880. Antarctica also saw its lowest June ice coverage on record.
Robin Buell, GRA Eminent Scholar Chair in Crop Genomics, works in a plant growth chamber. Buell received nearly $800,000 in funding to study the genome of tepary bean in an effort to address climate-related difficulties faces in production of common bean. CAES News
Bean Genes
The common bean — which includes many varieties of dry beans, from navy and black beans to red, pinto and green beans — are an important nutritional source for many world populations. However, rapidly changing climate conditions are making them increasingly difficult to grow in many locations due to high temperatures and susceptibility to diseases and pests.
Irrigator Pro App Credits Austn CAES News
Irrigation Scheduling
As climate variability increasingly affects producers across the Southeastern U.S., Wes Porter spends a lot of time thinking about water — specifically, crop irrigation — and how available tools can benefit farmers threefold.
Using added inorganic fertilizer may not be worth the financial risk for smallholder maize farmers on rain-fed farms in sub-Saharan Africa, such as this small maize farm in Tanzania. CAES News
Return on Investment
Using fertilizer to increase crop yields in sub-Saharan Africa may seem like a logical choice, but farmers in rain-fed areas must also weigh the potential for low rainfall or excess heat during the growing season.
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KPI-ADS Partnership
In the decades since Keith Kelly graduated from the University of Georgia’s College of Agricultural and Environmental Sciences with a degree in agricultural economics, he has built a diversified slate of agricultural businesses encompassing 17 distinct brands. Now Kelly is applying his agricultural knowledge and Kelly Products Inc. to a new initiative to combine leading-edge technology with the expertise of UGA’s Department of Animal and Dairy Science.