Many food items, including fresh fruits and vegetables, would never make it to grocery store or farmers market shelves without the help of beneficial insects like honeybees and butterflies. The number of these pollinating insects in the U.S. is declining, and to help, Georgia agricultural experts developed a statewide plan to teach gardeners and landscapers how to care for their plants and protect these vulnerable insects that are vital to food production.

University of Georgia Cooperative Extension county agents will now come to farms to teach a series of pesticide-focused trainings to agricultural producers through a new, unprecedented training initiative.

A U.S. Department of Agriculture-funded organization that that strives to help farmers with disabilities, the AgrAbility Project in Georgia is set to host an expo in Tifton, Georgia, to introduce farmers to equipment designed to assist those with disabilities.

A workshop focused on attracting and protecting beneficial insects will be offered Wednesday, April 20, from 8:30 a.m. until 12:30 p.m. in Fayetteville, Georgia, by University of Georgia Cooperative Extension experts.

An overwhelming number of researchers still struggle within the black hole of the effectiveness and safety of stem cell therapy for neurological diseases. While the complexity of understanding how neurons grow, connect and function has long been studied, it remains a mystery, one that graduate student Forrest Goodfellow in the University of Georgia Regenerative Bioscience Center is helping unravel.

For John McCormick, farming is a tradition. His ability to help his farm evolve over the years earned him the title of “Georgia Farmer of the Year.” The Sylvania, Georgia, corn, peanut and soybean farmer was in Atlanta, Georgia, this week to be honored by Gov. Nathan Deal as part of Deal’s Ag Awareness Day at the Georgia Capitol.

Georgia registered landscape architect Greg Huber has joined the staff of the University of Georgia Griffin Campus as the training coordinator for the Georgia Center for Urban Agriculture.

Consumers with a sweet spot for satsuma oranges can expect to see south Georgia oranges on the market in 2017, according to Jacob Price, University of Georgia Cooperative Extension agent and Lowndes County Extension coordinator. That’s because south Georgia satsumas trees are a little more than a year away from producing fruit.

Amanda Wilbanks, owner of Gainseville’s Southern Baked Pie Company, baked her way to the grand prize with her caramel pecan pie in the University of Georgia’s 2016 Flavor of Georgia Contest.