December 20, 2010
www.gfb.org
Vol. 28 No. 51
UGA AG FORECAST MEETINGS KICK OFF JAN. 24 The University of Georgia College of Agricultural and Environmental Sciences will begin its series of Georgia Farm Bureau-sponsored Ag Forecast meetings on Jan. 24 in Gainesville. The meetings will feature UGA agricultural economists and local speakers who will share their success stories. Participants will receive a copy of the 2011 Ag Forecast book, which gives a detailed analysis of each major agricultural product – from broilers to blueberries – produced in Georgia. The meetings will last from 10 a.m. to noon followed by a networking lunch. At the Gainesville meeting at the Georgia Mountains Center, Ken Meter will give the keynote speech, Tim Young will share his success story and UGA Extension Economist Director Dr. John McKissick will give the economic outlook. Meter, of the Crossroads Resource Center in Minneapolis, Minn., will discuss local food systems at the Gainesville meeting. Elbert County Farm Bureau member Young runs Nature’s Harmony farm and sells his products through community sponsored agriculture at local farmer’s markets. The Jan. 25 meeting at the UGA Tifton Campus Conference Center will also feature Meter. Bill Brim of Lewis Taylor Farms in Tifton will provide the local success story, while UGA Professor of Agricultural Economics Dr. Nathan Smith will give the economic outlook. The Jan. 27 meeting, to be held at the Nessmith Lane Center in Statesboro, will feature Kirk Farquharson, the United States Department of Agriculture’s Southeast Regional Office Farm to School coordinator with the USDA’s Food and Nutrition Service. He’ll discuss local food systems in Statesboro. Dr. George Shumaker, professor emeritus at the UGA Center for Agribusiness and Economic Development, will give the economic outlook. In Carrollton on Feb. 9 at the Carroll County Ag Center, Faquharson will discuss local food systems and Will Harris of White Oak Pastures, the largest certified organic farm in Georgia, will talk about his family’s livestock operation. UGA Extension Economist Dr. Curt Lacy will give the economic outlook. The final meeting will be held Feb. 10 at the Georgia Farm Bureau home office. Farquharson will discuss local food systems, and Russell Johnston of Johnston Dairy Farm in Newborn will discuss his family’s milking operation. Dr. Don Shurley, UGA professor of agricultural economics, will give the economic outlook. Registration at each meeting will open at 9:30 a.m. Registration is $30 per individual or $200 for a table of eight. For more information and to register, visit www.georgiaagforecast.com.