The growing poultry industry in Georgia has farmers searching for alternative bedding options for their birds. University of Georgia Cooperative Extension poultry scientist Claudia Dunkley recommends that growers use giant miscanthus grass as bedding in their poultry houses.

Led by increases in forestry and livestock values, Georgia’s agricultural output increased by $484 million in 2014, making agriculture, once again, the largest industry in the state with a value of $14.1 billion. According to the most recent University of Georgia Farmgate Value Report, published earlier this month, the value of Georgia’s livestock and aquaculture industries increased by almost 36 percent from 2013.

Hay can’t be evaluated by touch, smell, color or any other on-the-spot technique. To get a true measure of forage quality, hay has to be tested.

This year, farmers from 13 Southeastern states competed to show off their farm’s best hay or baleage in the 2015 Southeastern Hay Contest.

What is the best way to help people in developing countries build food security? That’s the question at the center of University of Georgia agricultural economist Nick Magnan’s research.

The Georgia Agricultural Hall of Fame has two new members: former U.S. Sen. Saxby Chambliss and the late Thomas Richard Breedlove Sr., a pioneering northeast Georgia dairy farmer. Breedlove and Chambliss were inducted Sept. 25 as part of the University of Georgia College of Agricultural and Environmental Sciences Alumni Banquet and Awards Ceremony.

Women own 13.6 percent of America’s active farms and their farms produce almost $13 billion worth of goods each year. Just like male farmers, they need access to business and technical information to help make their farms successful. But while many pride themselves on not needing a “women’s only” class on how to work the land or run a business, many other women simply feel more comfortable learning around other female farmers.

University of Georgia researchers have completed a county-by-county analysis of when motorists should be more aware of possibly hitting a deer. They looked at breeding data and then compared it to deer-vehicle collision statistics across Georgia.

For more than 100 years, University of Georgia Cooperative Extension has provided farmers, ranchers and gardeners with research-based training and on-demand information to help them improve their farms and gardens. Starting Oct. 1, a new leader will oversee these vital Extension services in Georgia.