News Stories - Page 300

With Grammy award-winning artist and Georgia 4-H alumna Jennifer Nettles as honorary chairperson and former state leader Roger C. ‘Bo’ Ryles receiving the Georgia 4-H Lifetime Achievement Award, the 2015 Georgia 4-H Gala was the organization’s most successful event to date.

Disease in south Georgia’s watermelons was again a problem this year for farmers.

University of Georgia Senior Vice President for Academic Affairs and Provost Pamela Whitten has appointed a committee to begin a national search to fill the position of dean and director of the College of Agricultural and Environmental Sciences.

Twelve University of Georgia Cooperative Extension agents are enrolled this semester at UGA Tifton as part of the Master of Plant Protection and Pest Management (MPPPM) program in the UGA College of Agricultural and Environmental Sciences. The agents work in counties in south Georgia.

Georgia 4-H clubs in 32 counties across Georgia will get some extra help this year thanks to a $439,357 AmeriCorps State grant from the federal Corporation for National and Community Service and the Georgia Commission on Service and Volunteerism.

More than 250 Georgia 4-H’ers met in Atlanta July 21-22 to compete for 47 coveted “Master 4-H’er” titles, the youth organization’s highest honor. Students from across the state competed in a variety of categories, from photography to public speaking and communications to companion animal science. They gave 12-minute demonstrations and prepared portfolios of their research and service project areas. Expert judges evaluated their work and interviewed them.

University of Georgia Cooperative Extension is presenting chainsaw trainings designed to educate Georgia’s landscape and tree care workers on the safe use of chainsaws.

Just like humans, livestock are negatively impacted by poor water quality. Cattle that drink poor-quality water will drink less water and have a diminished feed intake, resulting in reduced average daily gains and return on investment.

Food Well Alliance, in collaboration with University of Georgia Cooperative Extension and other organizations, designed the Healthy Soil, Healthy Community Initiative to help Atlanta’s community gardens adopt better composting practices to improve metro Atlanta’s soil.

Georgia cotton farmers can benefit from using rye as a cover crop, according to scientists on the University of Georgia Tifton Campus. Along with providing an added defense against glyphosate-resistant Palmer amaranth at planting, rye significantly reduces thrips infestations and could save farmers irrigation expenses.