Out-standing in their field

4-H’ers attend Crop Scouting and Agricultural Education Event

4-Hers from Seminole, Mitchell, Decatur and Grady Counties in Georgia along with 4-H’ers from Jackson County, Florida and students from Houston County, Alabama and South Carolina Governor’s School for Agriculture at John De La Howe attended the fifth annual Southeastern 4-H Crop Scouting school held on July 26-28.

The Scouting School event is a collaborative effort to educate 4-H youth, seventh through twelfth graders on Scouting techniques used in the Southeast. 

 The planning committee for this three-day event consisted of Cody Bowling UGA Extension Seminole County, Cale Cloud UGA Extension Grady County, Brian Hayes UGA Extension Mitchell County, Reid Miller Clemson Extension Regional Agent, Sedrick Mack Regional Extension Agent Alabama Cooperative Extension, Ethan Carter Regional IPM Agent UF/IFAS Jackson County, Andrew Warner Director of Agricultural Research and Campus Landscape South Carolina Governor’s School for Agriculture at John De La Howe and Cindy Meadows UGA Extension Seminole County.

Day one

The first stop was The Striplings Irrigation Research Station in Mitchell County.  Mr. Calvin Perry spoke to the group over Georgia’s different aquifers, types of irrigation and the importance of making every drop count. After the irrigation demonstration the group went to scout peanuts, cotton and soybeans. The group made a stop at Vanglott farms where attendees learned about blueberry, citrus and pecan production from Tyler Davis.

Day Two

On the second day the event took the group to the Wiregrass Research and Extension Center in Headland, Alabama. The future scouters learned about internal and external cattle pests from Ricky Hudson, Alabama Regional Extension Agent, as well as soil science and erosion prevention in row crops from Dr. Audrey Gamble, Alabama Extension Specialist Soil Scientist. UGA professor Dr. Simer Virk covered precision ag and the students participated in a farm machinery safety demonstration taught by Cody Bowling before heading to Axion Air in Dothan.

Day Three

On the final day the group headed to Florida to meet Jim McArthur and McArthur Farms from the YouTube channel “Field Rows”. They were given a tour of their farm and shops while teaching the students about their farming practices. The group then went to Cindale Farms, a family owned dairy and creamery, where they learned about different dairy cattle breeds and where their milk actually comes from.  

All attendees capped off the tour with a river float of Spring Creek.

A special thanks goes out to Rome Ethredge and Liz Jackson for their help with the  tubing trip.

“This event was a huge success. With the agriculture industry being such a huge part of this area’s economy, it is great to see young people take an interest in learning more information that may just help them in future job endeavors. The future of agriculture is in their hands,” commented Ms. Meadows

Participants were from Seminole County included Emma Godby, Sara Belisle, Madison Deese, Decatur Milner, Cody Deese, Ty Weir, Zhion Williams, Cindy Meadows, and Cody Bowling. Participants from Mitchell County included Gibson Clark, A.J. Short, Dalton DeLoach, Liam Rogers, Brooks Dawson, and Brian Hayes. Participants from Grady County included Jay Bowers, Ben Dean, Talisa Dean, Kileigh Grant, Konnor Wilson, and Cale Cloud. Participants from Decatur County included Jacob Moore, Maddox Reynolds, Austin Ward, Jake Barber, Scott Ross Hayes, Dawson Cottles, Landon Harrell, Teresa Adkins, Lindsey Hayes, and Clark Wiggins. Participants from Jackson County, Florida included Jacob Garling, Jamison Scheffer, Aaron McBride, Beau Miles, Adlei Alexander, Cale Thompson, Traver Mclemore, Carolena Johnson, Cooper Hickey, Patti Peacock, Brittany Peacock, Ashley Stonecipher, Ethan Carter, Peggy Gilley and Liz Jackson. Participants from Alabama included Luke Meadows and Sedrick Mack.  Participants from South Carolina Governor’s School for Agriculture at John De La Howe included  Coralie Davis, Elsa DeRosa, and Scott Sherard.

Reid Miller from Clemson Extension was also in attendance.