Make your lawn look like a premier golf course. See the latest research on ornamentals. Or learn more about wetlands. You can do it all at FutureScapes.
FutureScapes, the third annual Ag Showcase,
will be at the Georgia Experiment
Station in Griffin, Ga., on
Thursday, Sept. 3. The event will focus on home and professional
landscapes, forest lands
and wetlands.
Ag Showcase highlights Georgia agriculture. The University of Georgia College of Agricultural and Environmental Sciences, Fort Valley State University and Abraham Baldwin Agricultural College are sponsors.
"Ag Showcase was conceived as a showcase for the many contributions the College of Agricultural and Environmental Sciences makes to people in our state," said Gale Buchanan, CAES dean and director. "We envisioned that such an event probably should be at different sites around the state, particularly in Tifton, Griffin and Fort Valley."
The first two Ag Showcases were on the CAES Tifton campus. The third will be on the Griffin campus. And plans are already under way to have the fourth at Fort Valley State.
FutureScapes will begin with three concurrent field days. The fee for either the Turfgrass Field Day or the Ornamentals Open House is $25 before Aug. 14 and $40 after that. For the Land Use and Forest Management Field Day, the fee is $10 before Aug. 14 and $15 after that. The fee for each includes lunch.
The Turfgrass Field Day will include updates on managing tall fescue, bent grass, zoysia, buffalo grass and seashore paspalum. It will also cover disease and insect problems and fire ant control.
Visitors will see the UGA Distance Diagnostics Digital Imaging System, too. This system slashes the time needed to diagnose homeowners' plant disease problems.
The Ornamentals Open House will cover topics from soil amending and composting to mulches and plant growth regulators. Visitors will see insect- resistant azalea varieties and low-pesticide landscapes. They will also tour the Georgia Station Research and Education Garden.
The Land Use and Forest Management Field Day will update visitors on managing forest land. Topics range from controlling forest pests and prescribed burning to grazing lands and waterfowl management.
Experts at this field day will tell about food plots for deer. They will show how to control wildlife damage, too, and how to manage forest land for wild turkeys and other wildlife. They will tell about wetlands, building ponds, managing waterfowl and stabilizing stream banks, too.
After lunch, Ag Showcase '98 will be
open to the public, with no
admission fee. Displays will highlight research projects at the
three ag colleges. Cotton,
corn and other Georgia crops will be growing in a nearby
field.
High school students can learn about careers in agriculture. Representatives from each of the sponsoring schools will tell about their academic programs.
"The focus of the third Ag Showcase on ornamentals, turf and land use is compatible with many of the programs at the Griffin campus," Buchanan said. "These areas also are some of fastest-growing aspects of Georgia agriculture. They are a natural focus for this Ag Showcase."
To learn more about FutureScapes or sign up for a field day, call (770) 229-3477. Or contact your county Extension Service office. To view the complete program, visit the Web site at http://www.griffin.peachnet.edu/agshow.
