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
Washington County Extension is built around solid youth programming with our 4-H Agent. Monthly classroom instruction from the 4-H agent continues strong, and the county has over 900 youth enrolled in the 4-H program. Our 4-H agent brings nationally recognized programming in healthy relationships, mindfulness and opioid awareness education. Washington County youth enjoy camping experiences in addition to competitive events like Cotton Boll & Consumer Judging, District Project Achievement and shooting sports. The 4-H agent has also coordinated an annual Mental Health Youth Summit for 8th grade students at T.J. Elder Middle School, reaching more than 800 students over the past 4 years. The Mental Health Youth Summit requires many collaborators in order to be successful. Collaborators include: UGA Extension 4-H and Family and Consumer Sciences Agents, Washington County Well Connected Community Master Volunteers, UGA Archway Partnership, Washington County Family Connections, Washington County Sheriff’s Department, Georgia Rural Health Innovation Center at Mercer University School of Medicine, T.J. Elder Middle School and the Washington County Board of Education.
Family and Consumer Sciences
The Washington County Extension Office Family and Consumer Sciences Agent serves the community by delivering research-based educational and practical programming focused on food, health, home, family, and financial wellness. These programs are aimed to help individuals and their families live healthier, happier lives through maintaining nutritional education and safe food practices. Food and Health programming are closely tied together. Residents of Washington County have access to a variety of educational programs and resources, including ServSafe Manager Certification, home food preservation, general food safety and nutrition, and disease prevention. Each program is designed to provide reliable, science-based information that helps individuals make informed decisions for themselves and their families. In addition, the Washington County Extension Office proudly offers the Volunteer Income Tax Assistance (VITA) program through a valued partnership with the University of Georgia. This service provides Washington County residents with free, accurate tax preparation assistance close to home, ensuring that individuals and families can access trusted financial support without having to travel outside their community.
Agriculture and Natural Resources
Washington County Agriculture continues to be strong. Row crop acreage is in the range of 13,000 to 14,000 acres, with peanuts, corn, soybeans and cotton leading the way. Beef cattle and timber are solidly in Washington County’s top 3 commodities. In 2025, producers in Washington County were recognized regionally for cotton quality, as well as peanut yields. Producers in the county continue to produce quality products, and several have tapped into niche markets such as sesame production and NON-GMO grains. Peanuts continue to yield over 2 tons per acre. Our overall cotton yield is well over (2 bales) 1,000 lbs. of lint per acre. Cattle numbers continue to grow. The county has several producers that are backgrounding cattle and marketing truck load weights of similar weighted cattle. Vaccinating, weaning, and backgrounding cattle is a very good way to add value to an already good product. Producers in the county are also harvesting high quality forages that go to support the strong livestock industry present. Washington County Extension continues to support and educate pesticide license holders to earn continuing education hours. Face-to-face trainings, crop production, and cattlemen meetings are all utilized to earn credits. In 2025, Washington County’s Extension ANR agent was recognized as the top equine educator in Georgia Extension by GACAA. We continue to have very solid submission numbers for soil, water, and feed samples. I hope Washington County Extension can continue building good productive relationships in the community.