Georgia Ag Firsts
- The first agricultural experiment farm and station were established at Savannah in 1735.
- Georgia was the first colony to cultivate grapes.
- Georgia was the first state to charter a state university, the University of Georgia, founded in 1785.
- Georgia was the first state to create a state department of agriculture.
- The first Southern school of forestry was established at the University of Georgia in 1906. The first state forestry center and the first forest fire lab were established at Macon in 1959.
- Eli Whitney invented the cotton gin near Savannah in 1793. Georgia was the first state to grow cotton commercially and the first to run a successful cotton mill.
- The first silk from the colonies was shipped from Savannah and made into a dress for the queen of England.
- American cattle were first exported from Savannah in 1785.
- The Elberta peach, developed by Samuel Rumph and named for his wife, greatly popularized peaches in Northern markets.
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