On a sunny day with bright-blue skies, I arrive at Mark’s Melon Patch in Sasser, Georgia, and immediately spot the familiar white University of Georgia Cooperative Extension pickup truck, the Terrell County Extension logo prominently displayed on the door. Seth McAllister, the Agriculture and Natural Resources agent for Terrell County, greets me with a broad grin and a firm handshake. Terrell County alone has 60,000 acres of row crops, half in cotton. But what McAllister loves most about his role as an Extension agent is the diversity of his work.

If you’ve ever driven down a rural road lined with fields of cotton plants festooned with fluffy bolls and wondered how much cotton is grown in your county, forget Google — the University of Georgia’s Center for Agribusiness and Economic Development has what you need. Each year experts in the College of Agricultural and Environmental Sciences perform the Sisyphean task of compiling agricultural production data for every commodity produced in the state.

The Coastal Georgia Botanical Gardens at the Historic Bamboo Farm is getting ready for Santa’s arrival in Savannah, Georgia, with their December Nights and Holiday Lights events beginning Nov. 20.

With the harvest season in full swing, October brings the welcome return of two of the largest events of the year for the agricultural and environmental science communities: the Georgia National Fair and the Sunbelt Agricultural Expo.

Thanks to a prize-winning chicken coop design by 4-H and FFA students from Warren County, Georgia’s newly established First Flock now has a stately home on the 18-acre grounds of Governor’s Mansion in Atlanta.

Under the golden dome of the Georgia State Capitol, a new exhibit in the Georgia Capitol Museum shines a spotlight on agriculture in Georgia. The exhibit is designed to educate visitors on the importance of the state’s No. 1 industry.

Farmers and agricultural producers have faced numerous challenges in recent years, affecting the day-to-day tasks of running their operations. Add in a global pandemic and a push toward direct-to-consumer sales, and sustaining an agribusiness can seem overwhelming.

Since 1972, the University of Georgia College of Agricultural and Environmental Sciences (CAES) Alumni Association has housed the Georgia Agricultural Hall of Fame. With Georgia being home to such visionaries as Martha Berry, D.W. Brooks and Glenn Burton, the hall of fame plays an important role in telling the story of 20th- and 21st-century agriculture in the U.S.

Fall may be known as harvest time for peanuts, cotton and apples in Georgia, but the state’s winemakers would like Georgians to start thinking about grapes when the leaves start to transition to red and orange.