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.
Bartow Agriculture
Summary
The purpose of the Master Gardener Extension Volunteer Program is to increase Extension's capacity to educate the public about consumer horticulture and gardening topics. Bartow County Master Gardeners support the local Extension office by providing over 4,000 hours of volunteer service each year with an in-kind value of over $122,000 to our community.
Situation
A rapidly growing county population has increased requests for educational programs and services related to consumer horticulture. Volunteer development and management is a critical element in Extension programming offered through the Bartow County Extension office.
Response
The continuation and expansion of an extensive volunteer program composed of trained and certified Master Gardener Extension Volunteers (MGEV) has helped meet the requested needs of the public for current consumer horticulture information and diagnostic services offered through the Bartow County Extension office.
The County Agent provides leadership and coordination of continuing education for both new and veteran Master Gardener Extension Volunteers. In 2025, new volunteer trainings were co-coordinated by the Bartow Extension Agent with a total of 47 new Master Gardener Extension Volunteers recruited from Bartow (14), Cherokee (12), Paulding (11), Pickens (3), and Floyd (7) counties, completing twelve weeks of courses comprised of 50 hours of classroom training, comprehensive exams, and an experiential lab component.
On June 4th, the Bartow County Extension Office conducted a dedication ceremony to introduce its newly constructed greenhouse. To complement our education programs, we will utilize this space to grow plants to support local school pollinator gardens and youth STEM programs that are coordinated by Keep Bartow Beautiful and Master Gardener Extension volunteers.
Impact
During the past year, County Extension staff coordinated and supervised 54 Master Gardener Extension Volunteers in Bartow County. Master Gardeners volunteer by teaching public garden workshops, hosting Ask a Master Gardener Events, maintaining community demonstration gardens, and assisting with local school gardens. These volunteers serve over 4,000 hours each year supporting Extension with an in-kind value of over $122,000. In the past year, these MGEVs made 3,711 in-person contacts, had 492 indirect contacts, and reported 1,113 social media followers (with 42,745 views) and wrote 52 weekly columns for the local newspaper with a daily circulation of 2,443 readers. In addition to providing consumer horticulture outreach, MGEVs also made in-kind donations of plants and seeds toward local school gardens.
Volunteer Project Highlights:
• MGEVs in our program volunteered 540 hours in support of the Rose Lawn Education garden. This garden is focused on heirloom roses at a public and historic garden surrounding the Rose Lawn Museum. Each year, two popular art festivals are held on the grounds. MGEV’s host an “Ask A Master Gardener” booth at these festivals and sell a variety of native plants to support their restorative and maintenance efforts at Rose Lawn.
• MGEVs in our program volunteered 370 hours in support of Keep Bartow Beautiful’s pollinator education and rain gardens. These sites include the Shakespeare Garden in Downtown Cartersville, Neel’s Landing infiltration garden, Hardin Bridge pollinator garden, and Hayes Park rain garden. These gardens include educational signage about the various theme gardens with QR codes for more information about specific plant attributes.
• MGEV's in our program volunteered 928 hours in support of local school gardens and youth garden clubs. Bartow County MGEV’s assisted with more than 22 school gardens and related STEM clubs on topics from planting vegetables, attracting pollinators and beneficial insects, to seed starting, soil science, and vermiculture (worm composting). Our office trains, certifies, and manages school garden MGEV’s to mentor and guide local schools.
A series of seven local lawn and garden seminars were hosted by Bartow County Master Gardeners in 2025 with a total of 156 attendees. Seminar topics included firescaping, food and farming myths, art in the garden, herbs, fall gardening, introduction to tree identification, and live wreath making. MGEV’s coordinated and taught a summer ‘Play in the Dirt’ day camp for twelve 4-H students. MGEV’s also assisted with training twenty 4-H Forestry Judging Team members during four summer day camps. Our Junior 4-H Forestry team earned 1st place in the district competition. Our Senior 4-H Forestry team earned 1st place at district and 3rd place at the state competition.
Bartow 4-H Youth
Summary
Poultry and egg production is a leading sector in Georgia agriculture, requiring a skilled workforce to sustain its success. To support youth career readiness and meet growing local interest, Bartow County 4-H introduced poultry judging as part of its expanded programming.
Situation
Poultry and egg production is a cornerstone of Georgia agriculture, with the state consistently ranking as the nation's leading poultry producer. This industry's success depends on a knowledgeable and skilled workforce, making agricultural literacy and career readiness essential for youth. Recognizing this need and growing interest among local students and schools, Bartow County 4-H expanded its judging program offerings to include poultry judging, aiming to develop future leaders in agriculture.
Response
Bartow County 4-H launched a Poultry Judging program to teach youth the skills to evaluate poultry and egg products using industry standards. Over eight weeks, youth participated in in-person sessions and online modules covering poultry and egg science. Participants engaged in hands-on learning experiences, including the evaluation of live birds, carcasses, and both interior and exterior egg quality. These activities develop critical thinking and decision-making in realistic agricultural scenarios. Bartow County has trained multiple junior and senior teams, achieving success.
Junior team members placed 1st at the Area Contest, with seven 4-H'ers ranking in the top 10 individually. The senior team also earned 1st place at the Area Contest and advanced to the State Contest, where they secured a 7th-place finish. Individual achievements included multiple top-10 placements, with one youth earning 1st place individual at the area contest and achieving high scores at both area and state levels.
Impact
Since launching, over 40 Bartow County youth have gained valuable life skills including teamwork, confidence, communication, and goal setting. These experiences deepened their understanding of Georgia's poultry industry and encouraged future career paths in agriculture. One Bartow County 4-H'er is attending the University of Georgia to major in poultry genetics, demonstrating the program's long-term influence.
Participants impact: 40% of youth state that participating in poultry judging has influenced their career goals; 60% see themselves pursuing further education or a career in agriculture or animal science; 40% strongly agree they gained public speaking or communication skills by participating in poultry judging.
Before poultry judging: 60 % strongly disagree they were familiar with the grading criteria for egg quality.
After poultry judging: 60% strongly agree now, I can recognize egg grading criteria.
Before Poultry judging: 40% strongly disagree they were familiar of selecting poultry to lay the most eggs for production.
After poultry judging: 80% agree they can explain to others how to select poultry for high egg yield.
Before Poultry judging: 40% strongly disagree they were able to select poultry to lay the most eggs for production.
After poultry judging: 60% agree they feel more confident in live bird production class placings.
After Poultry Judging: 40 % agree and strongly agree they gained knowledge in grading poultry parts.
Through Poultry Judging, Bartow County 4-H continues to prepare youth to contribute to Georgia's leading agricultural sector, developing both personal growth and professional readiness in the field of poultry and animal science.
Bartow Family and Consumer Sciences
Summary
Since 2022, the Bartow County FACS Agent has provided Food Preservation workshops to over 540 clients. These impactful workshops helped citizens gain knowledge, self-efficacy, and skills that will help with food security and stretching their food dollar safely.
Situation
Interest in home food preservation has surged in recent years, since 2020, fueled by more time spent at home and a desire for self-sufficiency. People are rediscovering traditional methods like canning, pickling, and drying to preserve their harvests and reduce food waste.
In Bartow County, nearly 15,000 people are battling food insecurity (12-13% of the 117,000 population) while over half of Bartow children (53%) qualified for free and reduced-price lunch during the 2022-2023 school year. Food preservation links directly to food insecurity by providing stable, year-round access to food that might otherwise be lost to spoilage or seasonality, ensuring availability, affordability, and nutritional value.
While interest in home food preservation is high, knowledge of safe methods is low. Failure to take proper precautions in the preparation of home-canned foods can lead to foodborne illnesses with botulism being of particular concern (USDA, 2015). Most foodborne botulism cases in the US are from foods improperly processed in the home due to not following canning instructions, not using pressure canners, ignoring signs of food spoilage, and being unaware of the risk of botulism from improperly preserving vegetables (CDC, 2023). A study from the Pew Charitable Trusts estimates the cost of a single case of botulism to be $726,372 (Scharff, 2010). These statistics highlight the need for Extension education in home food preservation methods and selection of safe recipes.
Response
In response to this issue, the Bartow County FACS program focused on providing research-based food preservation workshops throughout Bartow and five surrounding counties. Six sessions were offered in 2025, ranging from 30-minute presentations to hands-on workshops lasting 2.5-4 hours. Workshops focus on proper food safety practices, the use of validated recipes, demonstration of effective food preservation methods, and correct equipment usage followed by the preparation of a particular food item.
Impact
Since 2022, the Bartow County FACS agent has reached over 540 clients and 300 students through 20 food preservation demonstrations, presentations, and workshops. The agent has also tested over 50 pressure canners for accuracy, which is a recommended annual service that drastically increases the likelihood of safe pressure canning for those households.
After participating in a 2023 workshop, a local farm owner has donated strawberries for workshops ever since (over 50 pounds, valued around $200). Additionally, half of the workshops have been sponsored by the public library and local food distribution center under the Bartow County government, allowing 20 participants to attend the classes for free and gain a skill that can stretch their food dollar.
By utilizing the volunteer services of the Bartow County Master Gardener Program, the agent obtained over 120 hours of food preservation volunteer hours, which has an estimated value of $4,175 for the Extension program.
Post-surveys showed participants gained knowledge on multiple topics including food safety and preservation topics, including pressure and boiling water canning, making jams and jellies, pickling, the importance of using validated recipes and guidelines, and the availability of resources for consumers. Even more importantly, 100% of participants said they will use the information gained in the workshops, suggesting that home canners will be using safer practices that won’t put them at risk of botulism and other foodborne illness.
Participants reported an average perceived economic benefit of $29.63 per person—significantly exceeding the registration fee for any class offered. On a broader scale, the estimated financial impact averaged $1,600 per month and $19,200 annually in savings or gains.
Testimonials show the true impact, particularly in the realm of self-efficacy. One participant has canned over 165 products in addition to 59 jars of pear preserves from pear tree in her yard since attending her first workshop in 2025!
“Looking back now I’m so glad I purchased the “So Easy to Preserve” book during the first class in May while we were canning Basic tomatoes. Since then, I have been truly inspired to do all types of water bath or pressure canning. I’ve learned that canning food is something you can do seasonally as well as all year long!”
“This helped to reinforce the information I already knew and gave me my first hands-on experience with canning.”
“Angelica was very attentive and helpful to the whole class. Great, friendly personality.”