Browse Sustainable Stories - Page 9

The University of Georgia College of Agricultural and Environmental Sciences will recognize nine of its finest next month with the D.W. Brooks Awards for Excellence and the CAES Faculty and Staff Support Awards.

Led by increases in forestry and livestock values, Georgia’s agricultural output increased by $484 million in 2014, making agriculture, once again, the largest industry in the state with a value of $14.1 billion. According to the most recent University of Georgia Farmgate Value Report, published earlier this month, the value of Georgia’s livestock and aquaculture industries increased by almost 36 percent from 2013.

In a time of public debate over the effectiveness and safety of genetically modified foods, it’s hard to picture the era before crop breeders developed grain varieties that could withstand drought and common diseases.

A tiny fly is having a huge impact on American fruit farmers. Known as spotted wing drosophila, the insect is costing famers more than $700 million a year in lost produce and prevention costs.

Despite Georgians’ constant umbrella use of late, most of September 2015 was actually drier than normal.

In 2015, the University of Georgia College of Agricultural and Environmental Sciences (CAES) expanded a program that funds graduate student research travel, with remarkable results.

Women own 13.6 percent of America’s active farms and their farms produce almost $13 billion worth of goods each year. Just like male farmers, they need access to business and technical information to help make their farms successful. But while many pride themselves on not needing a “women’s only” class on how to work the land or run a business, many other women simply feel more comfortable learning around other female farmers.

Organic and sustainable agriculture experts from the University of Georgia will host their fourth annual Organic Twilight Tour on Tuesday, June 23 from 6-8 p.m. at the College of Agricultural and Environmental Sciences' Durham Horticulture Farm, 1221 Hog Mountain Road, Watkinsville, Georgia.

UGA Extension in Forsyth County is launching a series of intensive summer workshops for those who raise or who would like to raise backyard chickens. The classes will be held from 7 p.m. to 9 p.m. on June 4, 11, 18 and 25 in Cumming. Pre-registration is required and each class costs $5.

Two College of Agricultural and Environmental Sciences (CAES) students are using their academic experiences to affect lasting change on the University of Georgia’s Athens Campus.