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 2021 Farm Gate Survey for Burke was $168,936,329, highlighting the importance of the agricultural industry in the county.? Burke County Extension’s Agricultural & Natural Resources Agent works to address critical needs associated with this diverse agricultural base.
Burke County annually ranks in the top 10 counties for corn production in Georgia. Growers continued to commit more acres to corn production over the past few years and indicated the continued trend in 2022. Growers turn to Extension for guidance on variety selection, as well as, planting and crop management recommendations. Among other practices, variety selection, integrated pest management and proper rate and timing of fertilizer application are critical points in profitably producing a corn crop. The agent in Burke collaborated with Jefferson County Extension Agent and 海角官方首页 Southeast Research and Education Center superintendent to develop a research trial to asses the performance of several corn hybrids under Extension recommended management to maximize profit margins.
The trial was designed to compare commercially available varieties of corn that growers could readily access versus experimental varieties. Basic Extension crop management recommendations were followed.? The corn varieties were randomized and replicated three times to account for field variations. Plant stand counts were made and yield data was collected at harvest across all plots.
With 22,760 acres planted to corn in 2022 in Burke County, this commodity has a large imprint on the counties’ agricultural economy.? Variety choice and the way a particular variety fits a grower’s management can significantly impact corn yield. In this trial, the difference in yield from the top yielding variety to the lowest yielding variety was 35 bushels.? With average corn prices at $6.50 /bushel, the impact of determining the optimum variety is $228 /acre when choosing between the highest and lowest yielding varieties.? If this applied to a modest estimate of 25% of the corn acres in Burke County, there could be a $1,296,750 increase in income to growers.
4-H Youth Development
According to Raja (2017), “Many people who converse easily in all kinds of everyday situations become frightened at the idea of standing up before a group to make a speech” (p.95). Students must complete projects in almost every subject in school, but feel anxious at the thought of getting up in front of their peers. “People can overcome this problem by practicing in small groups of peers and then moving on to larger audiences” (Raja, 2017).
Burke County 4-H reached out to local public and private school teachers to offer Project Achievement as part of their curriculum. Teachers and 4-H staff worked together to help students choose a topic, research, write a speech and create visual aids. Students and staff worked for months to prepare presentations and Burke County 4-H staff held 40 sessions to teach these topics to students. At the beginning of March, students gave their presentations to classmates and judges. Each school held a competition and the four highest placing students in each project area were invited to attend District Project Achievement (DPA) in Swainsboro on March 26. Students that qualified but unable to attend the in-person competition were able to compete in a state-wide virtual version of the competition.
Burke County 4-H had over 100 students complete a school Project Achievement presentation for a recorded grade in their classroom. At the DPA competition in Swainsboro, Burke County had 58 students attend with over 30 of those students placing in the top 3 of their project area categories. Burke County had 21 students participate in the virtual competition with 20 of those students placing in the top 3 of their project area categories.
Students that participated in Pr