The Georgia Agricultural Experiment Stations
College of Agricultural and Environmental Sciences
The University of Georgia
Research Report Number 713
December 2007
J. LaDon Day, Anton E. Coy, and John D. Gassett, Editors
The 2007 row crop season in Georgia was hot and very dry for the second consecutive year. Beginning in April extreme to exceptional drought (less rainfall than in 100 years) developed over two-thirds of the state. This area included all of Georgia north of the fall line and the western half of the coastal plain region. The only exception was the southeastern one-third of the state which received some beneficial rainfall from tropical storm
Berry in early June.
Rainfall amounts recorded monthly at the six test locations in Georgia and at Marianna,
Florida are presented in the following table. Lack of rain during the growing season was evident as deficiencies ranged from 10 to 22 inches. The driest area in the state continues to be in the Limestone Valley around Calhoun, where about 40% of normal rainfall occurred.
Month
March
April
May
June
July
August
September
October
November
Athens
2
3.19
1.80
.55
2.23
3.04
1.31
2.15
1.61
2.12
Calhoun
3
1.41
1.36
.26
4.31
3.30
1.19
1.46
2.89
.93
2007 Rainfall
1
Griffin
2.50
1.26
.62
3.12
4.31
2.68
2.93
1.84
1.52
Midville
1.62
2.73
.45
7.97
2.88
3.41
1.27
1.91
.41
Plains
2.00
2.39
.02
5.37
4.07
4.52
2.71
1.44
1.70
Tifton
------------------------------------------------------ inches -------------------------------------------------------
1.52
.45
.13
5.89
3.58
6.96
2.62
3.04
.91
Total 18.00 17.11 20.78 22.65 24.22 25.10
Normal (9 mo) 36.76 38.89 36.77 33.95 35.29
1. Georgia data provided in part by Dr. G. Hoogenboom, Georgia Station, Griffin, GA.
2. Plant Sciences Farm.
3. Floyd County location.
4. University of Florida, North Florida Research & Education Center, Marianna, FL.
35.11
Marianna, FL
4
1.25
1.24
1.71
3.53
5.18
5.06
1.89
5.49
2.12
27.47
38.51
Crop commodity acres increased this growing season for the first time in several years, the one exception was less harvested acres of hay forage (8% less). Soybean and grain sorghum acres increased 84% and 62%, respectively. This was the most soybean
(285,000 acres) and grain sorghum (65,000 acres) planted in 10 years.
J. LaDon Day is program coordinator of the state variety testing program and John D. Gassett is a research professional II in the Department of Crop and Soil Sciences, Griffin Campus, Griffin, GA 30223-1797. Anton E. Coy is senior agricultural specialist in the Department of Crop and Soil Sciences, Tifton Campus, Tifton, GA 31793-0748.

Harvest was delayed due to some cool weather in early fall. A pleasant surprise was how well the crops yielded after receiving less than normal rainfall. State per acre yield of
30 bushels for soybeans was 20% higher than last year. Further, along with an increase in harvested acres 127% more soybeans were produced than during 2006. Sorghum for grain production increased about 70% over last year.
Soybean rust was again found in south Georgia this growing season, but as in 2006 did not spread into a limiting factor. Apparently due to the hot and dry conditions, the rust never developed into a major problem this summer but remains a very serious threat to soybeans in the state.