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
Bacon County 4-H empowers its members to make a difference in their club, community, country, and world by providing many opportunities to engage in the community. The Bacon County 4-H has a long-standing reputation of excellence in the community. Our dedication to the youth of this county is demonstrated through many programs offered outside of school, as well as club meetings held inside the schools which focus on the academic advancement of students through lessons and activities that are in alignment with Georgia academic standards. In addition to academic growth, students are given a plethora of opportunities to advance in other areas, such as social skills, the arts, leadership, civic engagement, healthy living, and workforce preparation. Our standard programs, like Cotton Boll Consumer Judging and Poultry Judging, help 4-H’ers learn how to make wise consumer decisions, and understand more about the commodities that we produce locally. They not only learn how to select the best product given specific criteria, they also acquire valuable lessons about health and nutrition. Both competitions encourage clear, concise writing and speaking skills as they must give reasons for their selections.
Project achievement allows youth in fourth through 12th grades to explore interests and plan demonstrations across more than 50 project areas. Students are allowed to select a topic of interest and prepare a presentation that will be used to compete against other 4-H members in district and state competitions.
Our members are dedicated to giving back to the community through assisting with events such as Day of the Child and the Twin Oaks Fall Carnival. Our youth may be found performing drama productions for the local Senior Center, Twin Oaks Convalescent Home, the public library or for the general public at events like the variety show.
4-H strives to embed four major elements into all of our programming: Belonging, Mastery, Independence, and Generosity. Through the programming provided and with the support of our community, this organization empowers youth to become true leaders by developing necessary life skills, positive relationships, and community awareness.
Agriculture and Natural Resources
Superior research and education is the driving force behind agricultural innovation, and no one knows this better than UGA Cooperative Extension. Bacon County has a new agricultural and natural resources agent who has been working hard to meet producers and is eager to maintain a high level of programming that will deliver unbiased education. Farmers have been dealing with decreases in commodity prices, which has increased the importance of extension programming to keep farming profitable and sustainable. The new Agricultural and Natural Resources agent will address these issues, as well as pasture management, cotton, peanuts, corn, organics and livestock. While Bacon County has a great diversity in agriculture including row crops, livestock, forages and other agriculture business, the main specialty crop is blueberries, but no agricultural business within the community will go unnoticed.
ANR Impact Statement
Agricultural and Natural Resources (ANR) information is offered to the community monthly in Bacon County. In 2020, Bacon County Extension ANR was involved in seven research trials including blueberry and cotton. Blueberry is the #1 commodity in Bacon County based on the farm gate value. The on-farm blueberry research plot focused on the evaluation of various insecticides for control of scale insects. There was another on-farm research plot that evaluated the efficacy of fungicide and oil sprays for control of Exobasidium on two rabbit eye blueberry cultivars. The on-farm dryland cotton research plot in Bacon County was one of several Georgia Cotton program variety-testing sites. The data collected is of real importance to the growers in Bacon County and the state of Georgia.