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
Crops and livestock that are primarily grown and sold in Early County include cotton, peanuts, corn, and beef cattle. In 2024, the total Farm Gate value for the county was reported at $121,355,453. During the same year, Early County ranked 10th in the state for overall total row/forage value, 10th in cotton production, 13th in corn production, 10th in beef cows, and 14th in stockers raised. Early County also ranked 5th in the state for peanut production, with a total value of $36,240,026 in peanuts alone.
To support these key commodities, the Agriculture and Natural Resources (ANR) Agent in the Early County Extension office conducts on-farm research trials in collaboration with University of Georgia Specialists and local producers. These trials provide unbiased, locally relevant data on variety performance and pest management under real production conditions in county soils.
In the current production year, research includes a corn variety trial with eight replicated varieties and a peanut variety trial with six replicated varieties, allowing for statistical analysis of yield and performance data. Additional work includes a peanut insecticide trial targeting rootworm management and a cotton jassid research project addressing emerging pest pressure in the county.
Additional programming in Early County includes weekly monitoring and reporting of silverleaf whitefly populations using a sticky trap to track seasonal pest pressure. A poultry production workshop series is also being hosted to support backyard flock owners with practical management information, including nutrition, health, housing, and biosecurity.
With agriculture remaining the largest industry in Early County, our Extension office continues to focus on delivering practical, research-based information through on-farm trials, educational programming, and production meetings. These efforts help ensure that local producers have access to current research findings and management recommendations they can confidently implement on their operations. Recent meetings have included peanut, cotton, and row crop weed control programs, with additional trainings planned throughout the year.
Family and Consumer Sciences
Early County Family and Consumer Sciences Extension focus on the health and wellness of its community members and provides individuals with education and tools to improve quality of life. To accomplish this, the Early County FACS Agent provided several educational opportunities in 2025.
The Volunteer Income Tax Assistance (VITA) program was offered to local and surrounding area clients in tax assistance at no cost to the client. This is an IRS program that allows volunteers to be trained to handle client information and conduct intake and review sessions with clients. It also provides an opportunity to provide financial education for clients that participate. In 2025, participating clients at the Early County VITA Site received $6,650 in federal refunds, $2,620 was received in Child Tax Credits and $586 was received in state refunds.
Food safety is important when working in the food service business. Knowing that food service workers need ServSafe® training, the Early County FACS Agent provided ServSafe® Managers Certification training to individuals in Early County, as well as to individuals in surrounding counties. This training provides people in managerial positions to meet mandatory requirements and critical education on food safety at every point throughout the flow of food from ordering the food to serving it to patrons. In 2025, a total of 15 food service managers were trained and received certification.
A new program began in September 2025, Health Extension for Diabetes (HED). This FREE diabetes support program is for adults with type 1 or type 2 diabetes and is recognized by the American Diabetes Association. It is designed to support and empower people with diabetes so that they can prevent or delay future diabetes-related complications. It is a 4-month long program that includes educational sessions and teaching self-care behaviors including nutrition, physical activity, and stress management for diabetes. Early County had a successful first cohort that completed their educational sessions and met requirements to graduate from the program. Participants shared that they truly enjoyed the program and felt more knowledgeable about how to better manage their diabetes.
To improve the health and wellbeing of Early County Senior Citizens, the FACS Agent provided monthly programming at the Senior Citizens Center and Blakely Housing Authority on topics that relate to nutrition, health and wellness, and creating healthy home environments, providing education to approximately 400 senior citizens in 2025.
4-H Youth Development
“Learn by doing” is the 4-H slogan and the Early County 4-H Club provides opportunities for 4-H’ers to have a variety of 4-H experiences in which they can learn and accomplish. In 2025, in-school club meetings were held for students at Early County Elementary School (ECES) and Southwest Georgia Academy (SGA). Students at ECES learned all about STEM topics and experienced hands-on activities related to each month’s lesson. Students at SGA learned all about healthy living. Some of the topics learned were the five food groups, how cheese is made followed by a cheese tasting session, making fruit smoothies, exploring how much sugar is in students favorite drinks, and healthy snacking. A total of 32 club meetings were conducted, educating 647 4-H’ers during January through April and October through December 2025.
Shooting sports continues to prove successful in teaching 4-H’ers the fundamentals in the disciplines of archery and shotgun. Weekly practices and competitions allow for increased knowledge and improved scores, which help in developing mastery skills. Early County was honored to have the top scorer in the State 4-H Outdoor Archery Competition cloverleaf compound division in May of 2025, placing 1st out of 139 archers. These opportunities have afforded Early County 4-H’ers the opportunity to develop the 4-H essential elements of mastery, generosity, belonging and independence.