Summary
Baker County is a rural South Georgia county, population Forty One Hundred people, that is more dependent on agriculture as a percent of personal income than any other county in Georgia. The economy is declining and many of the young people have to leave because there are few employment opportunities in Baker County. Local leaders gave Extension a challenge to improve the economic downturn that is common in most rural South Georgia Counties.
For the past four years Baker County Extension Personnel have worked with County Leaders and state & federal agencies to secure development grants to help the agricultural community help itself. More than One Million dollars in development grants have been secured and four economic development projects are ongoing.
Situation
Baker County is classified as a rural economically declining county. The net farm income has steadily decreased the past several years to the point that some farmers were selling their farms and leaving the county to provide a living for their families. All the manufacturing companies that operated in Baker County have all left because they could make more money in other places or in another country. The University of Georgia has always been a source of economic development for rural counties. The local leaders, Extension Advisory Committee, and the local governing authorities turned to Extension in Baker County to ask their help in trying to slow or reverse this economic downturn, to help the people of Baker County.
It was obvious that a company from outside the county was not going to move into our rural area and save our struggling economy; we were going to have to grow from within and help ourselves. The quickest way to get more net income from our crops was to maintain ownership past the farm gate and to grow crops with more profit potential; we grow over 20 thousand acres of cotton and over 15 thousand acres of peanuts every year in Baker County. The need existed to form cooperatives to retain more net income from these farm products.
Response
The Baker County Extension Coordinator worked with the area USDA Resource Conservation & Development (RC&D) Council to learn about the government programs that were available and to educate local leaders on how to take advantage of them. The Agent helped RC&D to write a Cooperative Development Center Grant available to every state under USDA programs. Help was enlisted from the area Rural Development Center, in Tifton, Georgia, and the UGA Georgia Center for Agricultural Business & Economic Development, in Athens. Cooperative efforts lead to receiving the first Cooperative Development Center Grant, for the state of Georgia, in 2003; for Approximately 190 Thousand Dollars. The RC&D and the Georgia Center for Agricultural Business & Economic Development applied every year since then and have currently received this grant the fourth consecutive year in 2006.
Impact
The local RC&D has been awarded the USDA Cooperative Development Center Grant for the fourth consecutive year. The grants received were approximately;
Cooperative Development Center Grants
2003 Year – 190 Thousand Dollars
2004 Year – 300 Thousand Dollars
2005 Year – 290 Thousand Dollars
2006 Year – 225 Thousand Dollars
The Baker County Extension Coordinator was elected to serve as chairman of the Executive Advisory Committee every year; this committee is made up of a member of each of the twelve RC&D councils in the state and its purpose is to approve the projects that were received in to the Georgia Center for Agricultural Business & Economic Development for funding by the grant dollars throughout the state. The grant funds typically are used to evaluate potential new cooperatives by providing a feasibility study, business plan, and educational help. Baker County has applied and received several dollars from this grant to improve its economic development.
1. A peanut buying point, Patmos Peanut Company, received 25 thousand dollars for cooperative development assistance. Six farmers bought a 4000 ton peanut warehouse and received 200 thousand dollars a year from the farm program to handle and store their own peanuts.
2. Another group of Baker and Mitchell County farmers applied for and received a 25 thousand dollar grant to get assistance to build a cotton gin, to gin 18,000 bales of cotton per year. These farmers used this assistance and built Southern Gin in Pelham, Georgia and currently are ginning 40 thousand bales of their own cotton a year.
3. Another farmer received 5 thousand dollar grant to get cooperative assistance to develop a poultry litter compost operation. This group of farmers used this information and applied for and received a 500 thousand dollar USDA grant to develop a compost cooperative that hired an Extension Agent in Baker County.
4. Currently another group of farmers in Baker County received a 25 thousand dollar grant to get assistance in building a sweet corn cooperative for 1000 acres of sweet corn. If this sweet corn cooperative is built it is projected to add 45 new jobs to the local community.
This is a good example of how the County Extension, University system, RC&D, and USDA working together can help bring economic development to rural Georgia. This cooperation between different government agencies has encouraged rural communities to develop cooperatives throughout the state of Georgia and increase the net farm income in their local community.
State Issue
Agribusiness Development/Value Added
Details
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Year:
2006
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Geographic Scope:
State
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County:
Baker
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Program Areas:
- Agriculture & Natural Resources
