Society’s Role in Agricultural and Environmental Sciences

UGA’s interdisciplinary host team comprises the College of Veterinary Medicine, the College of Agricultural and Environmental Sciences and the Office of Global Engagement. The program, sponsored by the U.S. Department of Agriculture’s Foreign Agricultural Service, is designed to help developing countries in Africa improve their university agricultural education, research and extension programs by providing one semester of training at U.S. land-grant agricultural universities.

University of Georgia Cooperative Extension’s radon testing program — a holistic program that combines radon education outreach with research, testing and mitigation — has helped optimize sampling and testing methodology for radon in water throughout the U.S. The program has influenced national standards in radon testing.

All over the world, farmers are aging and young people are moving to more urban areas for economic opportunities. Leaders wonder what factors push young people to abandon agriculture and whether technology or other tools can make farming a more attractive option for the next generation. Next week, researchers from the University of Georgia and Virginia Tech will present early findings from research exploring those questions in Senegal, where a team surveyed more than 1,000 peanut-growing households to explore challenges among peanut producers and learn the main reasons why young people turn away from agriculture.