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 Agriculture and Natural Resources program supports Fannin County’s farming community by coordinating production meetings, conducting site visits, and leading applied research projects at local farms. The agent also provides guidance in soil health, safe pesticide handling, crop and pasture management, and offers support to small farm startups. Community members receive assistance in determining if their water is safe to drink through consultations and water testing. In 2022, our office submitted 329 water tests for Fannin families, ranking 1st in the state for microbiology and 4th in the state for other water and pond testing services. The agriculture program also serves homeowners by assisting with home fruit and vegetable gardening, ornamentals, turf management, and plant, insect, and disease identification. In 2022, the agent coordinated a training that led to the addition of 13 new local Master Gardener Extension Volunteers (MGEV). These volunteers contributed over 1,840 hours of service in the area, and helped teach gardening classes, including the popular annual spring and fall “Come and Learn” program. The MGEVs also work hard to support school-aged youth and provide annual scholarships to graduating seniors perusing degrees in agriculture-related fields.
4-H Youth Development
Fannin County 4-H creates experiences for young people to learn by doing. In 2022, 4-Hers gained valuable knowledge through experiences such as Project Achievement, community service projects, competitive teams, and summer camp. In-school club meetings with all 4th and 5th grade classes provided a gateway to engage youth in programming. In partnership with the University of North Georgia Blue Ridge campus, Fannin 4-H held an after-school Cloverleaf Project Achievement competition with 50 competitors and numerous volunteers. Twenty-six Fannin 4-H’ers competed at District competition in Union County. Fannin 4th and 5th grade classes competed throughout the school year to collect the most Pop-Tabs for Ronald McDonald House and celebrated with an end of the year party. Through competing in the Poultry Judging competition, four Junior and one Senior competitor sharpened their decision making and critical thinking skills at the area competition. Fifteen Cloverleaf 4-Hers, two teen leaders, and two volunteers traveled to Tybee Island during the summer where they gained environmental knowledge, team building skills and participated in beach activities. Thanks to community donors, all Cloverleaf summer camp attendee scholarships and travel costs were donated.
Family and Consumer Sciences
Although Fannin County does not have a Family and Consumer Science Agent (FACS), we provide citizens with research-based information on family, food, and your home. Since North Georgia is a hot spot for radon in the state, we encourage homeowners to test for radon in the air and water. Our office served 42 families with radon in the air and water tests in 2022 to test their homes for this potentially deadly gas and provided information on mitigation resources. Neighboring FACS agents help by providing county programming opportunities, food preservation questions and healthy living information. Coordinated in partnership with Hall County FACS and Fannin County Young Farmers, a Home Canning Workshop was held where 19 participants learned the ins and outs of food preservation. The workshop began with information on food preservation and ended with a hands-on lesson where participants used pressure and water bath techniques to preserve green beans and tomatoes to take home. Participants also had the chance to purchase the So Easy to Preserve book to begin their home-preservation journey in their own homes.