Watkinsville, GA |

No matter how much time, money and effort farmers put into growing their crop, they are ultimately at the mercy of the weather. And in 2024, it provided more downs than ups, especially with Hurricane Helene causing more than six billion dollars’ worth of damage to Georgia’s agricultural industry. And even though another active storm season is forecast in 2025, growers shouldn’t be alarmed just yet.

“Just because it’s active doesn’t mean it’s going to have any impacts on Georgia because we don’t know where those storms are going to go. Some years they go to Texas. Some years they go more up the east coast. And this is a pretty unusual year that Georgia doesn’t often have two big storms that come over the state, especially the same part of the state in year. So, it’s not likely that we’re going to see another year like that next year even if it is active, there’s no guarantee they’re going to come over Georgia,” says Pam Knox, Director of the UGA Weather Network.

Another major problem most of the farmers in Georgia faced was record drought conditions in a number of counties around the state.

“If you took the tropical rain away, almost the entire state would have been below normal in precipitation, and in areas that didn’t get hit by the tropical storms, it was quite dry. We see drought expanding. And so, I know people in areas that did not get hit by the tropical storms were really frustrated because it was so dry that the crops were just not doing well,” says Knox.

If you thought it was a hotter than normal summer, you wouldn’t be wrong as temperatures were up across the board. And with La Nina officially here, it’s a pattern that will likely continue in the coming year. That could bring with it altered farming practices and different types of crops.

“There are a number of different things that farmers are doing, changing the way they manage their crops, changing the way they have workers work, looking at the livestock and making sure that they can handle those changes in temperature. They’re also introducing some new crops, things like satsumas and olives. And so, those are crops that are a little bit more tropical, they can handle warm temperatures. They like warm temperatures better,” says Knox.

Higher humidity is also in the forecast, which means growers should plan accordingly.

“Our humidity levels are going up and that causes some problems because it’s more likely we’ll see fungal diseases. And so, you might have to change the way you plant things so that there’s more ventilation through the canopy of different crops that you’re growing to help reduce the amount of fungal diseases, or you might have to change the kind of chemicals you use and how often you apply them,” says Knox.

As for the big piece of advice for farmers if it is in fact a hot, dry growing season.

“With drier conditions, whatever irrigation you can get is probably going to be a good thing. A lot of years you don’t really need that much irrigation. You may only need four inches, but you have to put it on at the right time. And so, even for smaller farmers, if you can use a way to use a farm pond or something like that, that can help to get your crops through the dry spell,” says Knox.

By: Damon Jones