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.
Agriculture and Natural Resources
Ag commodities grown in Crisp County – such as pecans, peanuts, cotton, watermelons, etc. – averaged a Farm Gate value of $180 million dollars. Joshua Grant and the ANR program in Crisp County focus on sharing information to help clientele increase the production and value of these commodities. In 2022 the ANR program continued decades long efforts to combat Fusarium wilt in watermelon, one of Crisp County’s major crops, by assessing the efficacy of grafted plants. These studies reduced Fusarium incidence over 50% indicating the potential save producers >$9,000/A in high risk fields. In addition to research, site consultations and phone contacts constitute the bulk of communications directly with stakeholders – totaling over 400 consults in 2022.
4-H
Crisp County school attendance is of grave concern to the entire community due to student absenteeism, checking out early or coming to school late. Learning and student attendance is in direct correlation to a student’s success in school and adulthood.
Students who attend school regularly have been shown to achieve at higher levels than students who do not have regular attendance. Maintaining regular attendance and punctuality is crucial for all students. Understanding the importance of attendance and showing up for school every day lays the foundation for success. By attending class regularly, a student is more likely to keep up with daily lessons and assignments and take quizzes and tests on time. Research has shown that a student’s regular attendance may be the greatest factor influencing his/her academic success.
FACS
Becca Stackhouse has made community wide collaborative partners that she works with for programming. Stackhouse offers healthy relationship education for teens, parents, financial education, VITA, certification in CPR/AED/First Aid and lifeguarding, ServSafe, and continuing education for food services workers. She works with Crisp County FACS teacher to deliver programming to Middle School students. She has worked in collaborative with her ANR & 4-H Agent and collaborative partners on a pre-k raised bed gardens and programming. She works with Crisp Regional to delivery Lunch n Learn programs to the employees of the hospital. She uses local media for bi-weekly column and Midday show with WSST. She delivers publications full of research-based information to organizations like the child care centers, Senior homes and the hospital. As the family and consumer science agent, Stackhouse works hard to provide expertise through training, research and publications to positively affect community members.