United States Department of Agriculture		
	CROP PROGRESS & CONDITION NEWS RELEASE	National
Agricultural
Statistics
Service	
			
In Cooperation with the Georgia Department of Agriculture
Georgia Field Office · 355 East Hancock Avenue, Suite 320 · Athens, GA 30601 · (706) 546-2236
www.nass.usda.gov	
	
September 15, 2008	Media Contact:  Douglas G. Kleweno	
	nass-ga@nass.usda.gov	

IMPROVED PASTURE CONDITIONS

Showers, over the past week, have improved pasture conditions, according to the USDA, NASS, Georgia Field Office.  Daily average high temperatures were in the high 80’s.  Average lows were in the 70’s most of week.  Soil moisture conditions were rated at 5% very short, 32% short, 58% adequate, and 5% surplus.  Rain is still needed in some areas.

Red crown rot has appeared in soybeans. A light amount of white mold and some limb rot was reported on peanuts.  Soybeans, pasture and vegetables were returning to a healthy condition after the damages from tropical storm Fay.  Cotton harvest is underway. 

Other activities included digging peanuts and finishing up tobacco. County Extension Agents reported an average of 5.6 days suitable for fieldwork.

Crop Progress for Week Ending 09/14/08	
Crop Stage	This Week	Prev Week	Prev Year	5 Year Avg	
	Percent	Percent	Percent	Percent	
Corn Harvested for Grain
Soybeans Setting Pods
Soybeans Dropping Leaves
Sorghum Harvested
Cotton Bolls Opening
Cotton Harvested
Apples Harvested
Peanuts Dug
Peanuts Combined
Rye Planted
Other Small Grains Planted
Tobacco Harvested	76
94
10
37
53
1
18
4
2
1
1
89	59
88
5
28
37
NA
13
1
NA
NA
NA
81	77
95
10
13
39
0
27
3
1
3
0
87	76
98
20
31
56
2
28
7
3
3
0
96	
Crop Condition for Week Ending 09/14/08	
Crop	Very Poor	Poor	Fair	Good	Excellent	
	Percent	Percent	Percent	Percent	Percent	
Soybeans
Sorghum
Cotton
Range and Pasture
Apples
Hay
Peanuts
Pecans	2
1
4
4
0
5
2
5	12
8
10
12
4
17
4
13	44
39
44
43
13
45
29
42	37
49
35
38
28
31
53
37	5
3
7
3
55
2
12
3	

Topsoil Moisture for Week Ending 09/14/08	
	This Week	Previous Week	5 Year Avg.	
	Percent	Percent	Percent	
Very Short
Short
Adequate
Surplus	5
32
58
5	4
24
62
10	10
28
45
16	
*Soil Moisture Map is supplied by the Georgia Automated Environmental Monitoring Network (AEMN) and the office of the State Climatologist, University of Georgia.  For detailed Georgia weather data, visit the AEMN homepage at www.georgiaweather.net.

Soil Moisture (%) at 12” Soil Depth

Topsoil Moisture for Week Ending 09/14/08, by District	
District	Very Short	Short	Adequate	Surplus	
	Percent	Percent	Percent	Percent	
District 1 (NW)
District 2 (NC)
District 3 (NE)
District 4 (WC)
District 5 (C)
District 6 (EC)
District 7 (SW)
District 8 (SC)
District 9 (SE)	7
6
8
7
1
16
1
1
5	33
53
36
21
45
29
29
22
24	60
41
55
56
53
51
59
72
68	0
0
1
16
1
4
11
5
3	
* A list of the counties in each of the nine Georgia Agricultural Statistics Districts is available at http://www.nass.usda.gov/ga/ctyests/districts.pdf.
Pasture Condition for Week Ending 09/14/08, by District	
District	Very Poor	Poor	Fair	Good	Excellent	
	Percent	Percent	Percent	Percent	Percent	
District 1 (NW)
District 2 (NC)
District 3 (NE)
District 4 (WC)
District 5 (C)
District 6 (EC)
District 7 (SW)
District 8 (SC)
District 9 (SE)	5
0
10
6
3
14
0
0
0	12
9
26
13
15
11
11
5
1	40
64
57
35
44
49
28
39
33	43
26
7
46
31
26
52
55
63	0
1
0
0
7
1
9
1
3	
* A list of the counties in each of the nine Georgia Agricultural Statistics Districts is available at http://www.nass.usda.gov/ga/ctyests/districts.pdf.

Weather Summary for Week Ending 09/14/08, by Station Location	
Location	Temperature	Precipitation	Soil
Temp	
	Max	Min	Avg	Weekly	Days	30 Day	60 Day	Season		
Weather data are not available for the week ending 09/14/2008.	

*Weather data are supplied by the Georgia Automated Environmental Monitoring Network (AEMN) and the office of the State Climatologist, University of Georgia.  For detailed Georgia weather data, visit the AEMN homepage at www.georgiaweather.net.

DISTRICT COMMENTS
September 14, 2008

DISTRICT 1 ‑ NORTHWEST
No comments available.

DISTRICT 2 ‑ NORTH CENTRAL
No comments available.

DISTRICT 3 ‑ NORTHEAST
Beneficial rains last week, pasture conditions are improving.  

Beneficial rains in forecast.  Hopefully they'll improve soil moisture without hampering hay. The last cutting of hay was virtually ruined. Less than 5" of rain for the week.

DISTRICT 4 ‑ WEST CENTRAL
Producers are starting to take leaves off cotton, and thinking about digging peanuts.  
Corn harvest is about over.

Almost 2 inches rain last week, really helped soil moisture conditions; forages are green but it's short; soybeans look good; been some armyworms in millet but it is now being harvested.

Some light rain this week, need more very badly.

DISTRICT 5 ‑ CENTRAL
We haven't gotten a significant amount of rainfall over the past week or so.

DISTRICT 6 ‑ EAST CENTRAL
Raining a little more frequently but it may be a case of too little, too late for hay and dry land cotton.  Soybeans are benefitting from showers and peanuts should be progressing well as we reach time for last fungicide sprays.  No peanut disease showing up but many cotton fields showing stemphylium leaf spot brought on by potassium deficiency.

Seeing some red crown rot in soybeans, indicative of the presence of CBR (cylindrocladium black rot) infection where peanuts are on short rotation. This is something we'll definitely warn growers about.

Early indications are that 140 day maturity peanuts such as GA Green are on schedule to be dug in that 136-144 time frame but "serious" peanut digging is at least a week away.

DISTRICT 7 ‑ SOUTHWEST
Corn and cotton yields were hurt by tropical storm Fay.  Peanuts will benefit from storm. Prospect for best peanut crop in several years.

DISTRICT 8 ‑ SOUTH CENTRAL
Some Cotton being defoliated.  Digging a few peanuts and finishing up tobacco.  A fair amount of white mold and some limb rot showing up on Peanuts.  Probably will dig some early.  Some fields need some rainfall.  Other getting scattered showers.

The growers started digging peanuts.  This crop of peanut look very good.  The office has been profile peanut for ten plus days and two growers stared digging the crop.  The hay crop looks good.  Soybean, pastures and vegetable are returning to a healthy condition after tropic storm Fay.

DISTRICT 9 ‑ SOUTHEAST
Asiatic soybean rust detected at the Vidalia Onion and Vegetable Research Center last week.