News Stories - Page 13

As the backbone of Georgia’s No. 1 industry, farmers face insurmountable pressures that are often beyond their control. Increased input costs, market variability, environmental disasters and labor shortages are just a few of the challenges. The 2023 Farm Stress Summit, held at Mercer University this week, brought leaders from around the state to learn more about the unique stressors farm families experience and strategies for building a network of support.

The University of Georgia Rural Engagement Workshop for Academic Faculty enters its third year with 12 faculty members working in partnership with units of UGA Cooperative Extension and Public Service and Outreach for grants to help solve rural challenges. The workshop is designed to help drive community-engaged research in rural Georgia communities.

Georgia is the nation's leading pecan-producing state — and University of Georgia researchers intend to keep it that way. Working with an international team of experts, four faculty from the UGA College of Agricultural and Environmental Sciences have received a U.S. Department of Agriculture National Institute of Food and Agriculture award for the second phase of a study to adapt one of Georgia’s top commodities, the pecan.

The University System of Georgia Board of Regents approved two University of Georgia professors as Regents’ Entrepreneurs at its Dec. 1 meeting. Professors Steven Stice and Biao He, from the College of Agricultural and Environmental Sciences and College of Veterinary Medicine, respectively, are the first two UGA selections for a designation that was adopted by the board in February 2022.

Judges tasted their way through 124 products entered by 82 Georgia businesses in the first round of judging for the University of Georgia College of Agricultural and Environmental Sciences’ annual Flavor of Georgia food product contest on March 10, selecting 36 finalists who will compete in the final round of competition on March 28.

High school 4-H’ers are bridging technology gaps in the agriculture community with Georgia’s new 4-H Ag Tech Changemakers program, part of the national 4-H Tech Changemakers initiative. Students trained as Tech Changemakers create educational opportunities for adults to learn essential workforce-related technology, and Georgia 4-H created the 4-H Ag Tech Changemakers program to expand the subject area coverage to include agriculture-specific skills.

When government officials need expert opinions, they often turn to academia for advice. The University of Georgia’s Center for Food Safety has a long history of working with such entities to help ensure a safe global food supply, and its involvement in government matters deepened last fall when the center’s director participated in a high-profile review of the U.S. Food and Drug Administration.

Emily Edelman’s acceptance to the University of Georgia was a dream come true. “If you grew up in Georgia like I did, you know UGA is where everyone wants to go. It’s on everyone’s list,” Edelman said. “And when I got in, I also got into my dream program — poultry science.”

There is, arguably, no single individual who has brought more national attention to agriculture and the state of Georgia than Jimmy Carter, 39th president of the United States, who grew up in the tiny farming community of Archery, Georgia, about 3 miles outside of Plains.