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
4-H has continued to grow in the community during 2022. 4-H partners with the Evans County Charter School System and Pinewood Christian Academy to offer in-school club meetings monthly to fifth and sixth grade students as well as after-school events and evening club meetings and activities. Both of the Evans County 4-H judging teams (Poultry Judging and Consumer Judging) won first place at the Area Contests.
Another highlight of Georgia 4-H is the summer camping experience. To help extend the camp opportunities to all 4-H members, Evans County 4-H has worked to lower the cost of camp and offer scholarships and fundraisers. In total for 2022, over $7,571 was raised for summer camp through grants, donations, and doughnut certificate sales. 58 campers attended summer camp during 2022 and of those, 38 youth benefited directly from the doughnut certificate sales and scholarships.
In addition to these things, Evans County 4-H continues to offer a variety of other activities including leadership conferences, summer activities, and community service opportunities. 4-H’ers are learning skills to prepare them for a productive future. Our youth have the opportunity to learn new skills, increase their self-confidence, make new friends, experience different surroundings, and participate in many new things. These elements of positive youth development will continue to grow Evans County 4-H's total program, building its local social capital now and for many years to come.
Agriculture and Natural Resources
Superior research and education are the driving forces of agricultural innovation, and no one knows this better than UGA Extension. Evans County has a diverse agriculture industry which yielded a Farm Gate Value of $75, 801, 941. Annually, Evans County producers grow approximately 10,000 acres of crops including cotton, corn, peanuts, onions, sweet potatoes, forages, and soybeans. Evans County also has a thriving livestock industry that produces cattle, chickens, goats, and bees.
The Evans County ANR Program offered 8 production meetings this year that had 367 attendees with topics covering cotton, corn, soybean, peanut, pecan, tobacco, vegetables, citrus, crop budgets, and pest management. Evans County also hosted the following field days: GA-FL Tobacco Tour stops, Citrus Freeze Protection, Vidalia Onion, and Forestry Field day with a total of 335 attendees.
The Evans County ANR Program conducted local research studies in 2022 for cotton, corn, tobacco, citrus, and onions.
Diagnostic testing is another service that is offered in Evans County. In the 2022 program year, the following test were conducted for our clients: soil (336), water (35), plant tissue (78), forage (43), nematode (9).
Family and Consumer Sciences
Evans County added a Family and Consumer Sciences (FACS) agent in August of 2022 to provide education and programming in the areas of food safety and preservation, nutrition and wellbeing, child development and family relationships, healthy housing, and financial capability. The Evans County FACS agent, Ashleigh Childs, began her experience by connecting with the Claxton Elementary School culinary arts program and offering programming to kindergarten students regarding the nutrition benefits of seasonal produce. She has worked with the Evans County 4-H agent to provide in-school nutrition and wellbeing programming during 6th-grade club meetings at Pinewood Christian School in Belleville. During these sessions, students learned how to utilize USDA’s MyPlate tool to aid them in making healthy food choices and focusing on more fruits and vegetables. They also had the opportunity to practice physical activity and learned good mental health strategies through yoga.
Ashleigh is a Registered Instructor/Proctor and has begun offering the nationally recognized 2-day ServSafe Manager Certification course for local food service professionals. This course is required for operation compliance of establishments by the Department of Public Health and meets the requirements of becoming a certified food protection manager.
Our FACS program is also now offering free income tax preparation assistance through the virtual Volunteer Income Tax Assistance (VITA) program to qualified individuals in Evans County through March 31st.