Building on the foundation set by his father in Effingham County, Shiloh Farms owner Bruce Redmond has expanded his operation through innovation and dedication, earning him the honor of 2024 Georgia Farmer of the Year, presented at the 2024 Georgia Ag Forecast in Tifton, Georgia, on Jan. 26. Nominated by Blake Carter, the University of Georgia Cooperative Extension Agriculture and Natural Resources agent for Effingham County, Redmond assumed full ownership and operation of Shiloh Farms in 2018.

There are more than 20,000 living alumni of the University of Georgia College of Agricultural and Environmental Sciences. Among them are U.S. representatives, renowned environmental scientists, governors, leaders of national corporations, and a host of successful agricultural producers, among leaders in many other professions. Despite the differences in their college experiences and career trajectories, for many of these alumni, there is one unifying individual in their memories of CAES: Josef Broder.

On the University of Georgia Athens campus, only half a mile separates Conner Hall, the administrative home of the College of Agricultural and Environmental Sciences, and the UGA School of Law, currently heralded as the nation’s best value in legal education. Despite the proximity of these two powerhouses in higher education, the journey from undergraduate education to a law school acceptance letter may seem like a much greater distance.

She didn’t realize it at the time, but Carla Schwan’s passion for food microbiology began in a hospital bed in rural Brazil. At just 12 years old, Schwan’s predicament began with what she originally thought was just a stomachache from an undercooked hamburger. When her condition worsened, doctors eventually realized she had ingested contaminated beef that led to a potentially lethal bacterial infection called Shiga toxin-producing E. coli.

The University of Georgia’s Office of Service-Learning has established longstanding partnerships with community organizations to help address local food insecurity. Last September, the office launched the AmeriCorps Community Food Fellows program to further support these organizations. Since then, the 20 fellows have connected with organizations across the Athens community, serving daily meals at Our Daily Bread, harvesting food at UGArden, packing meals with Campus Kitchen, and delivering meals to families served by the Athens Community Council on Aging.

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.

As students return to campus fresh from holiday break, one building is welcoming students for the very first time. Situated on University of Georgia’s South Campus, the 70,000-plus square-foot Poultry Science Building is the new home for the College of Agricultural and Environmental Sciences Department of Poultry Science. The new building provides nearly double the space per student in each classroom, growing from roughly 17 square feet to 28 to 30 square feet per student.

A multidisciplinary team of researchers at the University of Georgia College of Agricultural and Environmental Sciences recently renewed a $4 million contract with the U.S. Department of Agriculture Agricultural Research Service to build upon their previous work to develop targeted interventions to mitigate the impact of silverleaf whiteflies on vegetable production in the Southeast. UGA entomologist Allen Moore leads the research team in collaboration with USDA ARS in Charleston, South Carolina.

For plant breeder Andrew Ogden, things are looking up. Way up. A new assistant professor in the University of Georgia Department of Horticulture at the College of Agricultural and Environmental Sciences, Ogden focuses on breeding members of the cucurbit family — namely melons and squash — in a vertical greenhouse environment. An asset to the UGA Griffin campus, Ogden joins the college's controlled environment agriculture research team, which was formed to support the ever-expanding green industry.