UGA Extension Office

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

The Lamar County 4-H Program was requested by the principal at the local elementary school public elementary school to specifically support science in all eight fifth-grade classrooms.  Interactive lessons aligning with Georgia Science Standards of Excellence were implemented to reinforce and heighten learning on specific science topics.  A lesson covering electricity discussed currents.  This lesson incorporated hands-on demonstrations on static electricity and the use of an energy stick to teach students about open and closed circuits, conductors, and insulators.  The Project WET lesson on microorganisms, "Poison Pump", discussed the spread of diseases caused by bacteria.  The students worked in small groups to trace the source of a cholera epidemic in London during the late 1800s.  A peer-reviewed lesson regarding inherited traits called for students to work collaboratively to create an individual with pre-determined recessive and dominant traits.  The game-based learning platform, Kahoot! was used to test students' knowledge, reiterate important concepts, and help students retain information regarding chemical and physical changes.     

To assess the impact of the Lamar County 4-H Program supporting science in the fifth-grade classrooms at Lamar County Elementary School, an evaluation was given at the final monthly educational session.  Sixty-four percent of the of the fifth-grade students enrolled in the Lamar County 4-H Program completed the evaluation.  The students were asked to respond to the following questions regarding the science lessons:  (1) "How helpful were the lessons taught by the 4-H Extension agent in helping you understand science topics?"; (2) "What was you favorite lesson taught by the 4-H Extension agent and why?"; (3) "What are some things that the 4-H Extension agent did in your classroom to make learning interesting?" and (4) "What were some things that the 4-H Extension agent did in your classroom to make learning fun?"

Agriculture and Natural Resources

Lamar County covers a wide range of agricultural commodities. The top four commodities include Poultry, Timber, Cattle, and Hay/Forages.

The extension office has many educational and agricultural resources for all types of commodities and other individuals in the community. We offer testing for water, soil, forage, and poultry litter. We identify insects, insect damage, different vegetation, plant diseases, plant damage, pasture and turf weeds.

Over the past year, Lamar/Upson County Extension hosted several producer-oriented workshops for the surrounding counties, allowing participants to earn credit hours for their private and commercial pesticide licenses and gain knowledge needed to identify problems and implement solutions on their farms. We also hosted monthly Lunch N Learns for adults in the community to learn about a range of different homeowner agriculture topics.

A main highlight was our successful Beef Cattle series. We host two session of this series, at the beginning of the year we held the Beef Cattle 101 series and then in the fall we hosted the Beef Cattle 201 series. Both programs focused on cattle and forage management for producers in Georgia. This program was a collaboration with the extension office, Soil and Water Conservation District (SWCD), and Natural Resource Conservation District (NRCS).

As usual, the Southeastern Hay Contest was a success. More than 60 samples from Upson and Lamar counties were entered, with producers placing top three in their respective categories. Our counties are continuing to be recognized for our pride in producing high quality forages.

Download Our Annual Report (pdf)