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
Macon County Cooperative Extension serves a very diverse county, with farmers growing a wide variety of crops each year. Our most recent farm gate value for Macon County is over $370 million dollars, with turfgrass, poultry, livestock, row crops, forages, fruits and nuts being the top commodities produced in 2022. This value places Macon County as the 10th county in the state for overall agriculture production.
Each year, the Macon County Extension offers production meetings, which cover a variety of commodities, fertility, disease and weed management. These meetings provide local growers with the latest innovations and un-biased research from UGA's Extension Specialists, helping them make the most profitable and sustainable decisions for the upcoming growing season. In 2023, each production meeting had an average attendance of 30 growers and provided an opportunity for recertification credits for the private and commercial pesticide license holders. The Macon County Extension Office also provides many routine tests throughout the year, such as plant tissue, soil, water, poultry litter, and legume analysis.
Madison W. Luke and the ANR program focus on meeting the needs of clientele by keeping them up-to-date on the latest information in order to stay ahead of emerging issues. Newspaper articles and blog posts, that cover a range of agricultural and homeowner topics, are a great way to keep clientele informed on our programs and expertise throughout the year. A staple for success of the Macon County ANR program is being readily available to assist the community's needs via on-site, office and/or phone consultations - totaling over 2,500 consults in 2023. The ANR program also participated in research by participating in the state wide, on-farm cotton variety trial. Information from that study contributed to published data that was shared to growers throughout the state during the 2023 production meetings.
4-H Youth Development
4-H is a youth development program that strives to serve 4th through 12th grade youth in Macon County. Programs offered to youth in the county include in-school club meetings, leadership development, communications trainings, civic engagement and camping opportunities. During the 2022 school year, 307 youth were enrolled in the Macon County 4-H Program and received programming targeted to their needs and interests. Macon County 4-H did in-school Club meetings with 65 students in 5th grade, 63 students in 6th grade, 99 students in 7th grade, and 68 students in 8th grade. Macon County 4-H provides programming for homeschool students and delivers monthly in-school club meetings to the Seventh Day Adventist School. Throughout the school year, in-school clubs meet once a month and after school activities are offered each week.
Macon County 4-H strives to offer programming to all youth in Macon County by offering monthly community service projects and by meeting with the Boys & Girls Club to deliver Healthy Living and STEM activities to 20-50 youth.
In 2022, we had 3 Macon County 4-H'ers participate in Southwest District Project Achievement. Overall, Macon County 4-H has had a fun and successful year!