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
Wilcox County Cooperative Extension serves a very diverse county with farmers growing a wide variety of crops. On average, Wilcox County has an annual farm gate value of $236 million dollars with broilers, cotton, peanuts, and watermelons being the top commodities produced in 2023. A major activity for cooperative extension is winter production meetings which provides the University of Georgia specialists an opportunity to update local county farmers with the latest research in their respective field. For 2023, Wilcox County Extension hosted production meetings for cotton, peanut, row crop weed management, and row crop disease management. Applied research is another way to gather and share information with our clientele. In 2023, Wilcox County Extension conducted and collaborated in numerous trials that focused on cotton variteal performance, peanut varietal performance, irrigation scheduling with moisture sensors in peanuts and cotton, grafted watermelon trials, pecan sap sensor trial, blueberry research, and feral swine peanut trials. Educational efforts through research extends beyond the county. In 2023, Wilcox County research was represented in presentations at the district, state, and national levels. A staple for the success of Wilcox County Extension is the persistence to provide the traditional role of assisting our community through personal contacts made via phone, office visits, site visits, and farm visits. Our stakeholders’ immediate concerns related to any residential, agricultural, or environmental issues require specific decisions to assist in providing a probable solution.
4-H Youth Development
The Wilcox County 4-H Club is the largest youth organization in the county with over 300 members from ages 9 to 18. Wilcox County 4-H is an educational partner that educates 4th through 12th grade students through 4-H club meetings and activities.4-H members are taught enrichment courses involving Math, Science, Language Arts, careers, and life skills. Wilcox County Extension provides Cloverleaf, Junior, and Senior Project Achievement opportunities which enables youth to develop superior communication skills through project work presentations at the district and state levels. Wilcox County 4-H members are reached through nine clubs that meet weekly in school or after school. Also, Wilcox County 4-H members have the opportunity to attend summer camps for hands-on educational opportunities while enjoying time with their fellow 4-H peers.