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
The Agriculture and Natural Resources program supports Fannin County’s farming community by coordinating production meetings, conducting site visits, and leading applied research projects at local farms. The agent also provides guidance in soil health, safe pesticide handling, crop and pasture management, and offers support to small farm startups. Community members receive assistance in determining if their water is safe to drink through consultations and water testing. In 2023, our office submitted 287 water tests for Fannin families, ranking 3rd in the state for microbiology and 5th in the state for other water and pond testing services. The agriculture program also serves homeowners by assisting with home fruit and vegetable gardening, ornamentals, turf management, and plant, insect, and disease identification. The Master Gardener Extension Volunteers support Fannin County Extension by providing unbiased horticultural information through volunteer community service and educational gardening projects using applied research and the resources of the University of Georgia.The MGEVs also work hard to support school-aged youth and provide annual scholarships to graduating seniors perusing degrees in agriculture-related fields.
4-H Youth Development
More than 400 fourth and fifth grade students have learned by doing with Fannin County 4-H hands on activities. Students learned about science, public speaking, community service and citizenship. Every student learned how to create a speech and give a presentation as a part of Project Achievement. Outside of school, students have had the opportunity to expand their knowledge into areas they are passionate about by joining judging teams and showing livestock. Poultry Judging and Cotton Boll and Consumer Judging offer students the ability to practice their critical thinking, decision making and reasoning skills. Community support of the program is growing, with over $4,000 donated last year to help send youth to summer camp at no cost.
Family and Consumer Sciences
Although Fannin County does not have a Family and Consumer Science Agent (FACS), we provide citizens with research-based information on family, food, and your home. Since North Georgia is a hot spot for radon in the state, we encourage homeowners to test for radon in the air and water. Our office served 42 families with radon in the air and water tests in 2023 to test their homes for this potentially deadly gas and provided information on mitigation resources. Neighboring FACS agents help by providing county programming opportunities, food preservation questions and healthy living information. So Easy to Preserve books are available for purchase which covers Preserving Food, Canning, Pickled Products, Sweet Spreads and Syrups, Freezing and Drying.