Our Impact
Making A Difference in Our County
University of Georgia Cooperative Extension is working hard for its constituents. The following are examples of Extension’s impact in the county over the past year.
4-H Youth Development
The important role of agriculture as a foundation for a secure and durable civilization is not always apparent to those outside of agriculture.? Specifically, current generations of children and youth often only see agriculture only in terms of narrow stereotypes—a farmer, a cow, and/or a tractor. (Luckey, Murphey, Cummins, & Edwards, 2013). A recent survey showed only 21 percent of youth feel they are very knowledgeable about where their foods comes from with 40% saying they know little to nothing about the subject (Agdaily.com, 2020).
According to the Georgia Farm Gate Report, Hart County ranks in the top five counties in the state for more than 18 years and has a value of over $632 million in 2024.? Agriculture is very important to the county and stakeholders have expressed concerns over youth awareness of how important agriculture is not only to our county, but life in general.
The Hart County 4-H Agent was asked to speak to all three elementary schools in Hart County as part of their AG Day programs.? Using a combination of resources, the 4-H Agent had over 1650 students, across all grade levels, learn about the parts of the plant and which part of a plant various fruits and vegetables grow from.? Students could identify and name different fruits and vegetables that grew as the root, stem, leaves, flower, and fruit. ?They also got to see pictures of how these fruits and vegetables looked as they were growing in a garden/field.? 90% of students and adults recorded learning at least 2-3 new things about fruits and vegetables after our lesson.??
Each class was surveyed on knowledge gained from the presentation.?
98% of the students and teachers reported that they learned something new from the lesson.
90% reported they learned at least 2-3 new things about how their fruits and vegetables grow through our lesson. One student said, “I had no idea broccoli was the flower of a plant, but it makes sense.”? Another student commented, ”I never thought about what celery looked like as it was growing.? It’s crazy that it looks the same as it does in the store.”? Some students stated that the fruit part is confusing because we call some things that grow as the fruit of the plant vegetables, like tomatoes.
Overall, everyone seemed to enjoy the lesson and asked great questions to clarify their new knowledge.
Agriculture and Natural Resources
According to the 2022 USDA Agricultural Census, 44% of farms in Hart County are under 50 acres in size. In addition, Georgia ranked 7th in the United States for percentage (34.4%) of beginning farmers, with over 20,000 of Georgia farmers having ten or fewer years of experience. Additionally, the census found that 90% of the beginning farmers had a primary occupation which was non-agriculture related.? In the past two years, Hart County showed client interest in learning more about small acreage agricultural management through various informal and formal needs assessments. 成人影院 Extension is poised to educate new small acreage farm owners on proper management practices that will help them achieve the goals for their land and promote the success of their operation.
In response to the need for small acreage agricultural production education, a “Help on the Homestead” series and curriculum was created by the Hart County Agriculture and Natural Resources agent in collaboration with the Lincoln County Agriculture and Natural Resources agent and the Habersham-Banks County Family and Consumer Sciences Agent. The program consisted of five weeks of one-hour sessions that met once a week. The program was designed to cover topics important to the success of various small acreage agricultural pursuits including small ruminants, small scale beef cattle operations, backyard flocks, vegetable and fruit production, and preserving and marketing the food produced. The objectives of this program were to educate participants on how to successfully produce and manage agriculture on small acreage farms using recommended practices, teach participants how to manage a small ruminant herd, prepare participants for producing beef cattle on small acreage, teach flock owners about proper management and biosecurity practices, educate participants on best fruit and vegetable production practices, and bring awareness to safe food preservation practices.
The “Help on the Homestead” program had 49 participants from six counties across North Georgia. The program was evaluated retrospectively to assess changes in knowledge, attitude, and behavior regarding small acreage agricultural production as well as their overall satisfaction with the program and the information presented. Of the evaluation respondents, 100% stated they found the information presented helpful, which demonstrated their overall satisfaction with the curriculum of the program. The program was successful in changing knowledge and behavior as 93% of respondents stated they had experienced an increase in knowledge of how to maintain and produce agriculture on small acreage, and 100% of respondents stated they would apply something they learned during the program in their small acreage farm. Future plans include a four-week series of different topics in 2025 that would then go on a two-year rotation with the current series. Feedback included, “The classes were very well put together. They stuck to the topic, but answered everyone’s questions” and “Sierra and the other speakers were great! The program was well organized and the content was super helpful. It was a very well-rounded overview.”