Tag Archives: planting season

Feral Hogs Cost Georgia Farmers $150 Million a Year — and Populations Are Still Growing

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Social Circle, GA |

They cause an estimated $150 million in damage to Georgia agriculture every year — destroying crops, tearing up land, and wrecking equipment. And despite ongoing control efforts, feral hogs aren’t going anywhere. If anything, their populations are growing.

“Feral hogs cause a tremendous amount of damage, especially for agricultural producers. They destroy row crops, root up the ground, and can cause damage to equipment — it’s an ongoing, perpetual problem that we’ve had for really centuries,” said Charlie Killmaster, Wildlife Biologist with the Georgia Department of Natural Resources. “They reproduce especially well. They can drop multiple litters a year with a lot of young in each litter, and those young have a really high survival rate. That reproduction outpaces the harvest in a lot of cases.”

PROGRAMS AND RESOURCES

Because of that, feral hogs remain a top priority for agricultural and wildlife departments across the state — and collaborative efforts are expanding to give growers more tools to fight back.

“For years, we’ve been actively working on removing regulations and restrictions on hunting and controlling feral hogs,” Killmaster said. “We’re also running the Hogs Down Awards program, where we’re giving away highly efficient hog traps to people who are actively out there controlling hogs on a quarterly basis. And we’re offering technical guidance through various workshops to teach people how to effectively trap and remove feral hogs.”

NEW LEGISLATION CUTS RED TAPE

State legislators have also taken notice, with recently passed legislation making it easier to control feral hog populations on private lands.

“House Bill 946 legalizes the use of drones for searching for feral hogs to aid control efforts, which will help us gain some efficiency there,” Killmaster said. “It also legalizes hunting from a vehicle on private property and on private roads — not from a public road. That was previously allowed through a permit, but this removes that permit requirement. It also clarifies the licensing requirements, making clear that you do not need a hunting or trapping license in order to trap feral hogs.”

ACT NOW, BEFORE THE SEASON TURNS

With seeds already in the ground for some of the most vulnerable crops — including peanuts and corn — growers should be on high alert for feral hog activity. But according to Killmaster, the best time to address the problem has already passed, which means getting ahead of it before next winter is critical.

“It’s best to do it in the dead of winter when there’s not a lot of natural food out there. They respond really well to bait in the trap, and that’s the time to get to them,” Killmaster said. “Once there’s spring green up and crops growing, they are really hard to bait and get coming into a trap.”

For Georgia’s agricultural producers, staying proactive — through trapping, reporting, and taking advantage of new programs and legal tools — remains the most effective defense against one of the state’s most persistent and costly invasive species.

By: Damon Jones

Early Drought Puts Georgia Farmers in Uncharted Territory

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Madison, GA |

All across the state, dry conditions are raising concerns for farmers and producers. A lack of rainfall and expanding drought are already impacting planting decisions and crop outlooks heading into the season.

For producers like Lee Nunn, the biggest concern isn’t the drought itself — it’s how early it arrived this season.

“In droughts in previous years, none of those years that I can remember off the top of my head could we not get a crop in. We had a drought during the crop year. This year is extremely different to me — being this dry, this early. I’ve never seen it in my years of farming to be stressed about getting the crop in the ground,” said Nunn.

While drought is nothing new for Georgia growers, Nunn says even typically reliable crops are showing signs of stress. His wheat crop — one that has rarely struggled for moisture in a quarter century — is now a cause for concern.

“We’ve never really had a problem in the last twenty-five years of growing wheat of ever having a lack of moisture on a wheat crop. I look back at some rainfall data, and we’re at about fifty percent moisture since the first of last September. We’re down about fifteen inches short in that time frame,” Nunn said.

EQUIPMENT AND COSTS

The lack of moisture isn’t just impacting crop development. Nunn says the soil has become so dry and hardened that his equipment is taking a serious toll, making planting more difficult and costly than usual.

“With the lack of moisture, that subsoil machine almost just can’t go in the ground. It is so hard. The red clay we have in this part of the state comes up like bricks and chunks — super hard and very abrasive,” Nunn said. “I would say we get at least half the life of our tips and our wear points on equipment compared to what we’d get with moisture. And honestly, that’s just an expense we can’t afford to take right now.”

Those added expenses come at a time when farmers are already struggling with high input and operating costs, putting even more pressure on producers heading into planting season.

“With the input costs we have right now at all-time highs — diesel fuel, fertilizer, equipment, equipment parts — just everything is at all-time highs,” Nunn said. “Commodity prices have crept up a little bit lately, and I’m thankful for that. But we’ve got to have a crop to sell this fall. Without adequate soil moisture, we can’t till the crop in, and we can’t plant the crop. If there’s no moisture there, there’s no need planting it.”

WINDOW IS CLOSING

According to Nunn, time and conditions will play a critical role in determining the rest of the season. If things don’t change, there’s a real chance this year’s crop won’t go in the ground at all.

“We have a pretty long window with cotton — at least another month to plant, up until about the first of June in this part of the state,” Nunn said. “We don’t like to plant much past the first week of June, so we do have some time. But the longer you wait, the less yield you have, and the more problems you have with the cotton crop.”

“That’s not to say you can’t make a crop,” he added. “But the chances are a lot less that you’ll make a perfect crop — and we almost need a perfect crop for these type of situations with inputs and pricing.”

As the season progresses, Georgia producers like Nunn will be watching the forecast closely, hoping for the rain that could mean the difference between a challenging year and no crop at all.

By: John Holcomb

Fertilizer Prices Surge as Georgia Row Crop Growers Begin Planting Season

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Tifton, GA |

As planting season gets underway for Georgia’s staple row crops, growers are firing up their fertilization schedules — and facing a costly start to the season. Fertilizer prices have jumped more than twenty percent across the board, with one key nutrient being hit especially hard.

“One of the biggest challenges we have right now is that a lot of fertilizers, especially nitrogen-based fertilizers, come from the Middle East. Because we have the Strait of Hormuz closed, it’s becoming a challenge for growers because not a lot of fertilizers are getting here to the U.S. — and that’s causing prices to surge,” said Doug Amarel, an agronomist with the University of Georgia Extension.

That surge includes a fifty percent jump in nitrogen prices alone, putting cotton growers in a particularly difficult position heading into the season.

A DELICATE BALANCING ACT

“Nitrogen is one of the most important fertilizers, especially if you’re doing cotton. It can account for up to fifteen to twenty percent of production costs, so growers need to find ways to cut costs,” Amarel said. “In years like this, when you have high fertilizer prices, you need to adjust. You need to manage the ways to stay profitable — whether that’s cutting back on some fertilizers, managing different crops, different rotations, or different practices in the field.”

But cutting back too aggressively carries its own risks. Amarel says fertilizer management is one of the most consequential decisions a grower can make.

“The three most important things about growing crops are genetics, the environment — something we cannot control — and management,” he said. “And management, eighty to ninety percent of it, is about nutrient management or fertilizer management in the field. If you apply too much nitrogen and not enough potassium, or too much phosphorus without the right micronutrients, you are hurting your crop. You still need to apply enough to be profitable and to produce your crop.”

START WITH A SOIL TEST

With margins already tight, Amarel says getting the most out of every application will be critical — and that starts well before the first pass across the field.

“The most important thing I’ve been telling growers: soil test. That’s the foundation,” Amarel said. “If you don’t know what’s in your soil, there is no way to manage your fertilizers properly. You don’t know how much nitrogen, potassium, or phosphorus you need to apply. A soil test is the foundation of any nutrient management plan right now.”

DROUGHT ADDS ANOTHER LAYER

All of that planning, however, will ultimately depend on whether the historically dry conditions gripping much of the state finally come to an end. Without adequate moisture, even a well-executed fertilizer plan can fall short.

“It creates another problem, especially for growers doing dryland crops,” Amarel said. “We still need water for the crop to uptake nutrients. If there is no water, the crop cannot uptake nutrients. So you may want to go slower at the beginning of the season and adjust as you go — splitting your applications to improve nutrient use efficiency.”

For Georgia’s row crop producers, the 2026 growing season is shaping up to be a test of both patience and precision — with every input decision carrying more weight than usual.

By: Damon Jones