The University of Georgia College of Agricultural and Environmental Sciences and the U.S. Department of Agriculture’s Agricultural Research Service have broken ground on a new state-of-the-art research facility housing the Southeast Watershed Research Laboratory and the Crop Genetics and Breeding Research Unit. the UGA Tifton campus, the research facility will include a new, 31,000-square-foot building housing university and ARS employees working on climate-smart agricultural research.

The gold dome of the Georgia Capitol was complemented with shades of green on Feb. 14 as 4-H youth and adult leaders joined elected officials for the largest Georgia 4-H Day at the Capitol on record. With nearly 700 in attendance, outstanding 4-H’ers from counties across the state gathered to engage with legislators, observe leadership in action and learn about the civic process.

University of Georgia researchers in the College of Agricultural and Environmental Sciences are part of a $3.5 million grant designed to assist organic producers in meeting both National Organic Program standards and food safety requirements. UGA food scientists will survey farms in the Southeast to determine the risk of contamination in organic crops by different environmental pathogens.

As an essential part of the U.S. agricultural industry, the H-2A program offers a lifeline for farmers facing seasonal labor shortages. The program enables them to hire migrant workers on a temporary basis when attempts to hire domestic workers are unsuccessful. Yet, as the agricultural sector navigates the delicate balance between productivity and financial viability, the high costs associated with the H-2A program present a very real and present challenge for farmers striving to sustain their operations.

For decades, economists have studied the impact of immigration on domestic labor markets. As a shortage of domestic farm labor has led to increased participation in the H-2A visa program, a brief look back at past immigration policies helps frame why migrants from Central and South America have largely been associated with filling necessary agricultural jobs in the U.S.

University of Georgia plant genomics expert Robin Buell is part of an international team seeking to mine an untapped genetic resource for wheat improvement by sequencing the genomes of ancient varieties representing the worldwide diversity of bread wheat. The two-year project— called the Wheat Diversity Project — is funded by the U.S. National Science Foundation and will bring Buell together with researchers from the International Wheat Genome Sequencing Consortium (IWGSC) and collaborators in France to sequence 12 landrace genomes.

Composting has become a popular topic in recent years, and many of us have heard that it is something we should be doing in some form. But why? There are many reasons that individuals, communities and governments promote composting, with some focused on diverting compostable waste from landfills and others who are in it for the dirt.

Georgia is consistently one of the top five states to use the H-2A visa program, employing workers for 60% of agricultural jobs. Last year, the U.S. Department of Labor passed legislation to raise the Adverse Effect Wage Rate (AEWR), which establishes the minimum wage for H-2A workers, by a sharp 14% for several states including Georgia. For University of Georgia Professor Cesar Escalante, this poses the question: How do you balance supporting the interests of farm businesses while fairly compensating the people doing the hard work in the field?

Without direct intervention, food systems could be the largest contributor to environmental pollution by mid-century. This warning — and more importantly, the research efforts in place to make change — were highlighted in Edward Buckler’s keynote address at the 2023 D.W. Brooks Lecture and Awards. “Right now our food system is costing us more than the value we are getting out of it. This is something we need to fundamentally address,“ said Buckler, a research geneticist with the U.S. Department of Agriculture Agricultural Research Service.