Georgia Agricultural Resources

For more than 200 years the University of Georgia has provided quality education for the state's citizens. The study of agriculture has been an important part of the University since the earliest years.

Abraham Baldwin, the founder of the College of Agricultural and Environmental Sciences, envisioned a college garden capable of supplying the food needs of the students and surrounding community. This fascinating idea took root in the minds of several antebellum agriculturists and made the University of Georgia an early center of agricultural study in the South.

The college still holds that honor today, providing not only agricultural education, but also ground-breaking research and an extension service that helps Georgians make the most of the research information in their daily lives.

The Georgia Agricultural Experiment Stations, located throughout the state, have developed new systems for growing bigger peaches, developed new turf grasses used throughout the world and are leaders in food quality and safety research.

Cooperative Extension provides agricultural and home economics agents for each of Georgia's 159 counties linking the university and the public. Extension agents also oversee the Georgia 4-H program that provides education and leadership training for youth.

The UGA College of Agricultural and Environmental Sciences Activity Center shares the historic Four Towers building, once a dairy barn and research facility, with the UGA Visitors Center. The Activity Center includes a large exhibit hall that features interactive kiosks, videos and displays about the history of the college and Georgia agriculture; the current research, teaching and public service efforts; and career possibilities for students.

For tours or more information, contact Louise Hill at 706/542-3390.

Located along the Oconee River south of the main campus, the State Botanical Garden of Georgia encompasses 312 acres and miles of winding trails. Features include small individual gardens devoted to different plant varieties and habitats, a conservatory where tropical and semi-tropical plants grow along an indoor stream, the International Garden featuring gardens of the world and the Day Chapel.

For more information, call Misty Harren at 706/542-6152.

Headquarters of the UGA Agricultural Experiment Stations, College Station research cuts across every scientific discipline and includes much of the basic, cellular-level research on crops and animals.

• Studies on the causes and prevention of pecan shuck decline and other production problems. Call Dale Sparks at 706/542-0789.
• Studies controlling scab, the major pecan disease in the Southeast. Call Catharine Stevenson at 706/542-2571.

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The largest 4-H center in the world includes 59 cabins, meeting facilities, a 1,200-seat auditorium and a fishing lake, and is home to the Georgia Natural History Museum. The center got its name from an ancient Indian burial mound located across the lake. A self-guided tour of the eagle mound is available, along with tours of the center and dining, picnic and recreation facilities.

For information about planned summer events, call 706/485-2831.

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Since it was chartered in 1895, Fort Valley State University has maintained close ties with Georgia's agricultural industry and often-beleaguered rural sector.

The FVSU College of Agriculture, Home Economics, and Allied Programs' students experience the best of both worlds: small classes and individualized instruction, as well as excellent facilities and faculties.

FVSU offers associate and bachelor of science degrees in agricultural economics, agricultural education, agricultural engineering technology, animal science, electronic engineering technology, food and nutrition, home economics education, infant and child development, plant science, preveterinary medicine, ornamental horticulture and veterinary technology.

The programs of FVSU's 1,100-acre research facility are aimed at meeting rural Georgia's needs with new and innovative technology.

A cadre of 21 scientists stresses the studies most likely to improve small-scale agriculture and help the rural disadvantaged. The station's 12-acre Georgia Goat Research and Extension Center is the largest facility of its kind east of the Mississippi River.

The FVSU Cooperative Extension Program provides practical, problem-oriented learning opportunities outside of the classroom, stressing initiatives on water quality, food safety and quality, parenting and family and youth programs, rural revitalization and sustainable agriculture.

FVSU Cooperative Extension provides educational services designed to help rural and urban Georgians improve their quality of life through a variety of means, from increasing income through modern farming practices and innovative marketing approaches to enhancing individual and family decision-making skills.

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The experiment station conducts studies on drought tolerance, growth regulators, fertilization rates, weed control and turf grasses. It is the home of the Center for Food Safety and Quality Enhancement, one of the nation's most advanced laboratories of its kind, and the Research and Education Garden, which includes the "Learn and Serve" garden, a vegetable patch tended by local teachers and students who donate their produce to a local food pantry. It also houses the Environtron, which is a collection of growth chambers used to research plants' responses to environmental stress.

Contact: 770/228-3215

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This multipurpose, state-owned complex is a year-round facility designed for livestock and horse shows, conventions, trade shows, concerts and sporting events. The 628-acre site is beautifully landscaped with a fountain, lakes and gardens.

The center is dedicated to Georgia's youth to show, learn and compete; to those in agriculture and agribusiness to exhibit, show and sell; to the state-sponsored Georgia National Fair; and to other entertainment, cultural and educational events.

Located at I-75 and Exit 135 in Perry.
Contact: 1-800-987-3247

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Berry College was founded in 1902 by Martha Berry as a high school for enterprising rural boys. A girls' unit was added in 1909.

Berry became one of the nation's most successful educational experiments, combining academic study, student work and interdenominational Christian religious emphasis. The school became a junior college in 1926 and a four-year college in 1930 and added graduate programs in 1972.

The Animal and Horticultural Sciences Department is supported by Berry's extensive livestock and farming operations consisting of beef cattle, dairy cattle and horses, plus about 1,500 acres of pasture and forage crops.

About two acres of gardens and 5,000 square feet of greenhouses support the horticulture program, and 22,000 acres in the forestry management program are designed for maximum production of pine saw timber and other forest products. Most of Berry's land is in the Berry College Wildlife Management Area.

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For years the Ellis Island of foreign flora as a USDA plant introduction center, the old "Bamboo Farm," now known as the Coastal Gardens, is 46 acres of beauty and wonder. The urban horticulture center features, among other things, hundreds of named varieties of plants: 528 day lilies, 100 tropical hibiscus, 100 roses, 50 culinary herbs, 75 turf grasses, 47 oranmental vines and 150 bamboos.

Demonstration projects include fruit and vegetable plots, flowers, shrubs, turf grasses, ornamental grasses and Christmas trees, all woven around four picturesque ponds.

Contact superintendent Pamela M. Lewis at 912/921-5460.

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The experiment station conducts research on a wide variety of agricultural and environmental subjects including:

• Breeding, screening and evaluations of new turf varieties.
• Studies on the biological control of insect pests.
• Evaluations of old and new pecan varieties.
• Studies on alternatives to pesticides, such as biological pest controls.

Contact: 229/386-3888

Abraham Baldwin Agricultural College opened in 1908 as an area high school called the Second District A&M School. The Board of Regents of the University System of Georgia named it Abraham Baldwin Agricultural College, a two-year unit of the system, in 1933. The agriculture and forest resources field at ABAC offers majors as diverse as golf club management, forestry, wildlife, animal science and agricultural engineering.

ABAC's 200-acre working farm on campus serves as a teaching laboratory for students within the division. In 1992 the college had a record enrollment of 2,851.

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